UCA student carries Olympic Flame
A Torchbearer from the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) at Rochester has spoken of her pride at carrying the Olympic Flame.
Chi-Mun Wong, who studies BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion, ran with the iconic Torch through Rochester on 20 July 2012.
The 19-year-old from Cheam in Surrey recently overcame cancer and was nominated by her mother.
Chi-Mun said: "It's such an honour to carry the Olympic Torch - I never expected anything like this to ever happen to me, I feel really privileged and grateful to be given this opportunity.
"It was really nerve-wracking waiting for my turn to come but as soon as I saw my family and the crowds, I felt more relaxed and really enjoyed it all.
"I was amazed to see such a big crowd for in front of me, so thank you to everyone for making it so special, especially the students and staff from UCA who came down to support me."
Chi-Mun was nominated for the help she had given her terminally ill grandmother when she was just 13 and for her strong, brave and positive attitude during her own serious illness.
She said: "When I was diagnosed with my illness I had to give up my studies at AS Level but I never gave up my passion to study fashion. After my illness I went to study at the Fashion Retail Academy for a year and now I'm continuing my dream by studying Fashion at UCA Rochester.
"I hope that running with the Olympic flame will inspire other people to never give up when they are faced with difficulties or illness."
After the early morning run from St Nicholas Gardens to Abbey Road, Chi-Mun brought the torch to UCA Rochester where the public were creating free Olympic light portraits to celebrate the special day.
The unique images will be projected onto UCA's iconic Fort Pitt campus on Friday evening for all to see until 6am on Saturday morning.
Tine Bech, Visual Artist and event organiser at UCA said: "Events, such as the Olympics, don't come around every day so we wanted to organise something which involved the local community in the arts and reflects the spirit of the Olympics through colour, light and movement."
Check out our Facebook page for lots more photos from Chi-Mun's special day.
Light portrait images will be uploaded to: www.facebook.com/torchrelaylightprojectUCARochester
For more information contact:
David Reilly, Press Officer, UCA
T: 01252 892939
E: dreilly@ucreative.ac.uk
