As planning heats up for the 2028 Summer Olympics, Oxy students are doing their part to ensure a just and sustainable Games
Four days a week, Claire Wilson-Black ’26 takes the Gold Line to Los Angeles City Hall. Although July 14, 2028—the opening ceremony of the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad—is nearly three years away, she is one of seven Occidental students working this summer to ensure the LA28 Summer Olympics will be equitable and sustainable.
Wilson-Black, an urban and environmental policy (UEP) major from Reston, Va., is interning in the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office alongside three other Tigers through the Justice Summer Internship program, which pairs students with community partners—including organizations, agencies, farms, and clinics—in six areas, each with a faculty mentor.
“The work that our interns are doing definitely makes Oxy visible and impactful in Los Angeles,” says Professor and Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) Executive Director Martha Matsuoka ’83, who oversees the internship program and leads the seven students working in the Olympics cohort.
This summer, a record 46 students are participating in the 10-week program, which (thanks to a multiyear gift from an anonymous donor) has expanded its offerings to enable students to intern with groups working on the L.A. Olympics as well as global immigrant rights and social justice in Greece.
Working in the Mayor’s Office of Energy and Sustainability, with an official badge, has given Wilson-Black a new perspective on Los Angeles and the creation of policy. “L.A. is such a big city, and it’s crazy to see how much work is being done behind the scenes that we have no idea about,” she says.
In writing a literature review on artificial turf as it relates to sustainability, and a second study of electrification, Wilson-Black is applying lessons learned in the Oxy classroom to real-world problems: “It's definitely added a whole other more practical layer to my education.
“Having previously done a community organizing internship back home,” she adds, “I was interested in what it would be like to do an internship in the public sector, and in city government. It’s so cool that we have the opportunity to do that through school, because otherwise it’s pretty hard to get an internship like this.”
Brandon Kim ’27, an economics major from Gaithersburg, Md., interns at Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), a nonprofit organization that focuses on building economic justice through community advocacy and leadership development. Kim is an intern focusing on the NOlympics campaign, an international coalition working with a group of SAJE employees organizing against the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
SAJE is steadfastly opposed to mega sports events like the Olympics, which puts Kim in “a pretty interesting position” as a student-athlete at Oxy (and 2023-24 men’s swimming and diving rookie of the year). “I see the benefit in the Olympics and how it promotes community engagement, entertainment, and inspiration for fans of sports," he says. “But through this internship, I’ve learned all the consequences of hosting big events like the Olympics. There’s increased policing, and housing affordability gets negatively impacted, which could also increase displacement.”
On a day-to-day basis, Kim primarily handles communications tasks, including writing a June 24 blog entry titled “Airbnb and FIFA Are Partnering Against Tenants.” Kim says the Justice Summer Internship program—specifically the L.A. and Olympics cohort—was also was interesting to him as someone thinking about a career in public law.
“Focusing on the community, and how you can support it, is really what SAJE is all about,” he says. “SAJE believes that L.A. neighborhoods should be dictated by its residents. SAJE offers educational services and resources to empower community members to advocate for themselves.”
As a lifelong Angeleno, Talia Goddard ’27 has a rooting interest in “seeing how the Olympics can have a more positive legacy, especially with the NOlympics campaign gaining support.”
An economics and UEP double major, Goddard is an intern with the Festival Trail project, a collaborative effort led by several organizations, including Agency Artifact, FastLink DTLA, Move L.A., L.A. Commons, and the L.A. Neighborhood Initiative. (The California Community Foundation is the fiscal sponsor of the project.) Together they are working to connect and activate public and active transportation networks throughout Los Angeles to provide attendees with nonvehicular access to cultural destinations and the major venues proposed for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“It’s kind of this grand idea for creating a mobility corridor as a way to see Los Angeles specifically for the Olympics, but also for the community after the Olympics,” Goddard says. “We’re working on connecting the dots between existing Metro and bike trail projects, and creating resilience hubs as places for celebration.”
As Goddard sees it, ensuring a more sustainable city for the Olympics and beyond is vital to the community. Beyond increased transportation options, the scope of the work includes more accessible bathrooms, water stations, and community viewing areas for the Olympics and Paralympics. Goddard has been spending her summer jumping in on various projects at the organization, including writing newsletters and mapping out vacant spots in the city.
With as many as 15 million visitors expected to trek to Southern California for the 2028 Games, many local residents may opt to be away when the torch reaches the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the opening ceremony. “Everyone I’ve heard is planning on leaving and renting out their house,” Goddard admits. One way or another, they’ll be going for the gold.
A media arts and culture major from Bethesda, Md., Joftus wrote “A STEM Grows in Ghana” for the Fall 2024 magazine.
Top photo: From left, Claire Wilson-Black ’26, Talia Goddard ’27, and Brandon Kim ’27, photographed on Patterson Field in Jack Kemp Stadium in July.
