Volunteers from Tsinghua SEM have geared up for the upcoming Beijing Olympics as the grand event is around the corner. A total of 145 students from Tsinghua SEM will contribute to the volunteer services during the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games. For the summer games, most of volunteers from SEM will work at the National Aquatics Center, (more commonly known as "the Water Cube"), International Media Center and the designated spots across Beijing.

(Student Volunteers at the International Media Center )

Student volunteers working at International Media Center began their services as early as July 5. Their main task is to manage the rental facilities at the Center. Volunteers there need to work 24-hour shifts. But they are quite optimistic towards the working pressure, saying being a Beijing Olympic volunteer was a great honor in one's life and they have been ready for the upcoming grand gathering.

Volunteers working for the Water Cube inaugurated their services on July 15. Their tasks include making access cards of the Water Cube and some work concerning Olympic licensed retailers' rights protection.

Among all the SEM Olympic volunteers, 22 of them have been providing their services as financial volunteers for more than half a year. Liu Yang and Zhu Bi, two sophomores of the School, who participated in the financial volunteer service at anti-doping testing center, said sometimes they felt tired, but the work during the past half year was really a happy experience for them.

The selection for Olympic volunteers at Tsinghua SEM kicked off in July, 2007. After training, tests and interviews, a total of 145 students including undergraduates, graduates, MBAs, doctoral students and international students were selected out among more than 700 applicants from Tsinghua SEM.

According to reports, during the period from August 28, 2006 (when volunteer recruitment was launched) through March 31, 2008 (when enrollment concluded), more than 1.12 million people applied to be volunteers for the 2008 Olympic Games. The number of volunteers enrolled to work for the Beijing Games has set a record in Olympic history: a total of 74,615 volunteers have been recruited from 98 countries and regions. In the six co-host cities of Qingdao, Hong Kong, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao, there will be 7,600 competition volunteers.