NEWTON, Mass. — Alison Linscott, of Waterville, a management major, was one of 25 students to participate in a mock business negotiation for the 2032 Olympics as part of the Lasell College Fall Connected Learning Symposium on Dec. 4, according to a news release from the college.

Linscott played the role of Judoka Sergiu Toma, an athlete, to represent Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in a mock negotiation for the location of the 2032 Olympics. The negotiation took place over the course of three days, with the second day coinciding with the Connected Learning Symposium. Each student’s team presented their city’s issues, interests and concerns regarding the negotiation process, according to Assistant Professor Janet Huetteman, who teaches the course on business negotiation at the college’s School of Business, according to the release.

Throughout the exercise, groups asked questions of the exercise’s mock International Olympic Committee and made direct pitches. Huetteman facilitated the three-day process, at the end of which a winner was selected by the mock IOC.

The Connected Learning Symposium at the college occurs twice a year to showcase student work tied to real-world clients and applications outside of the classroom. The event has run since 2002, though this fall’s was the first to take on a theme — diversity, equity and inclusion — as seen in more than half of the day’s presentations. The next symposium will take place in late April.

“This symposium was a special one,” said Jim Ostrow, vice president for academic affairs, according to the release. “Students were poised, confident and creative educators for our community. In praising student work, we also celebrate the superb work of our faculty.”

In addition to Linscott’s work, the day featured events and presentations including mock trials, performance art, sustainable fashion design, media ethics, crime theory, intergenerational genealogy, and more.