Lauren
Burrill in her Olympic torch jacket.
Not
everyone can say that they carried the Olympic torch, but freshman Lauren
Burrill can. She carried the torch from Squaw Valley stadium for three
miles on January 20.
It
was “pretty cool” in Burrill’s words as she thought about how she participated
in the nationwide event. While walking and/or running the three miles,
she pondered how fortunate she was to be chosen out of so many other people.
Burrill
doesn’t know why she was chosen. She said that people wrote letters to
Coca-Cola about a person they found inspirational and the runners/walkers
were selected from those letters. She believes that there were about five
people from the mountain area who participated.
Burrill
says that she is not a sports person. In fact, she likes music and plays
the guitar and the saxophone.
The
flame for the torches started in Greece. Every person who carried a torch
was given one of their own, which would be lit by the preceding runner.
Once each runner’s stretch was finished, they would pass on the flame to
the next runner.
Burrill
recalls how there were almost 50,000 people at Squaw Valley stadium as
she began her trek.
“You
feel like a rock star,” she says, “People think you are some significant
person, they want your autograph.”
Burrill
is the daughter of Rick and Mary Orrin of Coarsegold.