WILMORE, Ky. — Hakem Dermish wants to work behind the scenes on the biggest sports stage in the world. Shannon Rogers is ready for the adventure. And Matthew Holmes wants to see snow.

        All three are Asbury College students who along with about 60 of their classmates will help broadcast the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, which begin in Salt Lake City on Feb. 8.

        Asbury and five Utah schools — a total of about 400 students — will work for International Sports Broadcasting, which provides live television and radio coverage of all 78 Winter Games events.

        Junior Shannon Rogers of Circleville, Ohio, will work at the main broadcasting center in Salt Lake City, archiving some of the more than 900 hours of live coverage.

        “If I can do this at the Olympics, I can do anything,” Ms. Rogers said. “I think it will encourage me to do more things like this.”

        ISB does not have a permanent production crew, but professionals sign contracts to work during the Olympics.

        This year about 1,500 people will work at the different venues and the broadcast center. Some employees make up a planning crew, which has been in Salt Lake City since 1998, according to ISB.

        The students applied — some more than a year ago — for their positions, including camera operators, liaisons to international broadcasters, audio assistants and graphics operators.

        ISB placed students in the positions that coincided with their experience and the classes they have taken.

        ISB incorporates these amateur broadcasters into its professional crews.

        Jim Owens, a media communications professor, worked in broadcasting at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow the year before he began his tenure at Asbury.

        He decided he wanted to share that kind of eye-opening experience with his students.

        Since then, Asbury students have participated in broadcasting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle, 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

        “The Olympics provide a chance for students to obtain training from some of the best television people in the world,” said Mr. Owens, who is on a yearlong leave from Asbury to be the manager of training for ISB. “Students get the chance to see state-of-the-art equipment and they get to experience a cross-cultural experience in their own country.”

        The students took care of booking and paying for their flights and finding housing, although Mr. Owens assisted them.

        While they are in Utah, the media communications classes take a break, but the students are responsible for any work missed in other classes.

        ISB pays the students professional wages for their work. During the 1996 Atlanta Games, each student received about $4,785 for a monthlong contract. Also, $230,800 worth of equipment was donated to Asbury because of its participation.

        Mr. Owens said statistics prove that the students' involvement in the Olympics and other broadcasts, including the Breeders' Cup, Triple Crown horse races and X-Games, have helped Asbury graduates when they leave Wilmore, a town of about 5,900 in central Kentucky.

        Almost 90 percent of Asbury's media communications majors find an entry-level job within one year of graduation, compared with the national average of 65 percent, he said.

        ISB provides more than 80 broadcasters who bought rights from the International Olympic Committee with coverage of the games.

        The broadcasts, which require using more than 400 cameras and 140 videotape machines, are expected to be seen in 60 languages, according to ISB's Web site.

        Most countries only get the ISB coverage, but a few broadcasters, including NBC in the United States, pay for extra rights to bring their own production crews to provide additional coverage to its viewers.

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