MS Teacher Kimberly Morgan and the Biker Crowd, or:
"How I Spent My Summer Vacation"

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Middle School Science teacher Kimberly Morgan working the USA Professional
Cycling Championships held in Greenville on Labor Day weekend. She is
shown here with Levi Leiphiemer, who finished this year's Tour de France
in 13th place and will be the new leader of next year's Discovery Channel Team.

We wouldn't go so far as to call her a "biker gal," but popular Grade 8 science teacher Kimberly Morgan loves to hobnob with elite professional cyclists.

Last year she coordinated volunteers for Rich Hincapie's Downtown Cycling Classic that runs in conjunction with Fall For Greenville. So when Atlanta-based Medalist Sports (www.medalistsports.com) brought the USA Professional Cycling Championships to Greenville after 21 years in Philadelphia, she jumped at the opportunity to coordinate volunteers for the event.

"Little did I know how much work this would entail!" she admits.

During the summer, in addition to serving as CCES Summer Encounters Day Camp Coordinator, she managed more than 400 volunteers for the championships, including marshals, hospitality workers, parking attendants, quote transcribers, medical control couriers, and Fluor Daniel security volunteers. Her volunteers assembled bios of the riders, served as media coordinators, provided live audio feeds via the Internet, handled EXPO tents, and much more.


Here, Mrs. Morgan with Viatcheslav Ekimov, a Russian cyclist who rode several
tours with Lance Armstrong and now rides for the Discovery Channel with
George Hincapie. He was there to support the American riders at the
championships, which were not open to international cyclists.

Volunteers from all over the country applied to her through a Medalist Sports website that sent their applications straight to her for assignment.

"I've met tons of people here in Greenville, Atlanta, California, and all over! " she said. She even met one of her former students in Spartanburg, Craig Lewis, the current Professional National Cycling Champion for the under 23-year-old category.

As part of her job, she also stuffed hundreds of "goodie bags" given as thank-you's to all her volunteers.

"I gained a whole new appreciation for what it takes to put on an event of this size! I even met with police and county officials about road closures and safety measures," she said, looking not the least exhausted.



As Local Volunteer Coordinator, Mrs. Morgan managed a large budget for Medalist Sports. She explained that on Sunday alone they employed 77 city police officers and 44 county police officers for six hours at a cost of over $24,000.

"I cannot explain how much I have learned about how businesses work together and how sponsoring companies and their employees volunteer for community service!" Mrs. Morgan commented. "Fluor, the Greenville Hospital System, Charter Communications, the Cliffs Communities, and Bi-Lo were among the sponsors that provided volunteers and credited their employees with community service hours."

It was, undoubtedly, a big job, but certainly no bigger than her job as eighth-grade science teacher preparing our students for the challenges of the science program in the Upper School!

For more about the cycling championships, including a photo gallery from the race, go to http://www.usacyclingchampionship.com.