LEAD Scholar chosen to be Olympic torchbearer

While most students spend the first weeks of January buying books and getting settled into a new semester of classes, Kaitlyn Chana will be boarding a flight to Calgary where she will be running as an Olympic torchbearer.

"I just keep thinking, ‘Can this really be happening?'" Chana said. "I'm waiting for someone to pinch me."

Chana, a freshman radio/television major, was selected to bear the torch by the Coca-Cola Foundation from a pool of more than 80,000 other students. She is joining four other students who will also be bearing the Olympic torch, according to the Coca-Cola Foundation.

"When I found out I had been selected, I did what I call the happy dance, and I just jumped up and down and sang," the 18-year-old said. "It was just surreal."

According to Carolyn Norton, program coordinator and alumni relations director of the Coca-Cola Foundation, Kaitlyn Chana stood out because of her volunteer and service work.

"Kaitlyn showed commitment to her community. She is a great example of a young person who has done some pretty remarkable things," Norton said.

As an eighth-grade project, Chana established a national nonprofit organization to send messages of hope and inspiration to terminally ill children, and her idea has since flourished.

"Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness, Inc. is something I'm really passionate about," Chana said.

She has logged almost 600 hours during the fall semester alone, and her efforts have helped more than 50,000 children.

During her attendance at UCF, the organization has grown because of the number of students who were willing to help and dedicate their time, Chana said. As a member of the LEAD Scholars program, she has found a new network of students who help her in her mission.

"In her first year she has been really instrumental in creating volunteer opportunities to other LEAD Scholars through her organization, Love Letters," said Stacey Malaret, associate director of Student Leadership Development and a mentor to Chana. "Kaitlyn has opened up the eyes of many LEAD Scholars to her cause and her mission to brighten the lives of terminally ill kids. She is a vision of what a LEAD Scholar should be."

Although Chana considers herself to be a hard worker, she admits that she is not an avid runner, so preparing for her run in the Olympics ceremony has required intense training regimens.

"I don't know the conditions I'll be running in," said Chana. "It could be below 20 degrees, so I'm training to be ready for anything."

She said she hopes to build both strength and endurance for the journey and her workouts include yoga, flexibility exercises and intense running several times per week.

Chana said she is most excited to meet Shawn Johnson, former Olympic Gold Medalist and 2009 Dancing with the Stars winner. Chana will be passing the torch to the 17-year-old Olympian gymnast on Jan. 19.

In addition to the run itself, she will be attending press conferences and social events where she will get to meet fellow torchbearers and reflect on the experience.

Although the individual portion of the ceremony that she is running in is not televised, there will be plenty of eyes on her. Chana said this adds immense pressure.

The experience is once in a lifetime, but Chana promises not to forget the long journey that brought her to Calgary.

"When I put on that uniform and I am actually holding the flame, I know that I am representing so many people," Chana said. "I am representing myself, the state of Florida, the entire UCF community, and every other teenager who is passionate about what they do. I want to prove that if you strive and push further every day, you can accomplish anything."