The COVID-19 pandemic has taken many programs away from students on the Cleveland State campus, including activities the Rec Center typically offers. It was a disappointing development for everyone involved, and the cancellation of in-person programs left a void on campus. The Rec Center is attempting to fill that void with the Viking Olympics.

The Viking Olympics are a social media competition that allows students to compete against each other through competitions found on the Rec Center’s Instagram page. Winners of the weekly competitions will receive a $25 gift card to one of many locations.

Michael Nozak, a graduate supervisor with the Rec Center, is in charge of running the Viking Olympics and hopes to give students the best experience possible.

“Since in-person events are currently postponed, our staff have been brainstorming creative ways to engage with our students while keeping them safe,” Nozak said. “With the rise in popularity of TikTok, we thought that putting together a program that was as easy as posting a short video or photo would interest students, especially since it gives them a way to interact and compete with friends and colleagues throughout their community.”

These video competitions can be done in a number of fashions, but the main goal of winning that $25 gift card is a big part of the draw.

“Winners are determined in a different way for each challenge,” Nozak explained. “For some it is as simple as who has the fastest time or the longest time for the specific challenge, while others are based on technique or creativity. Each week's challenge will include how the winner is determined in the caption of the Instagram post.”

The word on campus is that students like the program, which has given the Rec Center staff ideas about the future.

“The change in how we are able to conduct programming this year has really pushed for a lot of creativity from our staff and I would like to think that it will map onto what we offer when we are back in person,” Nozak said.

Students, head over to the Rec Center’s Instagram, @clestaterec, to get the latest information on the Viking Olympics.