Students Finish Their Degrees with Exciting Fall Internships
As the semester comes to a close, we wanted to share some of the exciting experiences our seniors had during their final internships this fall. Read below as Masters Student Sam Klein checks in with six soon to be graduates.
Jose Montoya — Knox College
Jose Montoya, originally from New Mexico, spent his fall semester interning at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, as a Sport Information Assistant. Knox College is a Division-III school and a member of the Midwest Conference. Montoya’s responsibilities shifted from day-to-day but he found himself working with statistics, photography and assisting the Sport Information Director (SID) to ensure that all communications tasks were completed on time. Some of those tasks were press releases, taking statistics at games, capturing photos and videos for a variety of sports and managing social media content for the athletics department.
One of the biggest takeaways for Montoya was how much responsibility a Division-III SID has; not only were they faced with communications tasks, but at a smaller school such as Knox College, they are also asked to help with fundraising campaigns and facility preparation for various athletic events. Montoya said he was grateful for the opportunity to experience so many different things while interning and that it helped him form a better idea for what he wants to do in his future career. He also learned that he wants to continue working in college athletics because of the personal connection that fans and employees hold with the student-athletes that represent their school. “I don’t want to be at a place where they are risking every dollar for a person to play on Sunday and not focus on the present,” said Montoya.
When asked to reflect on some of his favorite moments of the semester, Montoya recalled a cross country (XC) race that Knox College hosted. Three days before the Midwest Conference’s XC Championship, Galesburg was hit with a snowstorm that left five inches of snow on the ground. Montoya was part of the team that was tasked with clearing the course to ensure that all of the races went on as planned. “This was one of the most unique experiences,” Montoya said. “I will forever tell of the time I put thousands of tiny flags into the ground in the snow alongside administrators and coaches.” Montoya also touched on his experiences getting to travel to other schools for sporting events and how he was able to continue his learning off-site.
Montoya also described how he was able to apply his classroom learning to the real world. He cited the constant reminders from Peyton Stensland, Chris Brown and Dominique Kropp to always ask questions and how, because of this, he was able to produce the annual campaign video for the Knox College athletic department. Montoya also discussed how Dr. Bernie Kish’s enthusiasm for making relationships helped him form and maintain strong relationships with all of his new coworkers at Knox College. “Although I was only a sport information intern, the whole athletic department took me under their wing and made me feel like I was a big part of the team.”
After graduation, Montoya hopes to continue his education by being a graduate assistant; he has applied to both the University of Oklahoma and the University of Wisconsin (Madison). With his master’s degree, he is looking to add an emphasis on Intercollegiate Athletic Administration. “The Sport Management department [at Kansas] challenges you to gain knowledge in all aspects of sport and was a vital part of my KU experience,” he said. “The faculty is top-notch and pushes students to reach for their goals and are always willing to assist in job search and grad school applications.”
Daniel Levey — Michigan State Ticket Office
Daniel Levey traveled to Michigan State University (MSU) this fall as an intern with the MSU ticket office within their athletic department. Levey was tasked with assisting fans in purchasing their tickets, supervising a variety of events, creating online promotion codes, and obtained experience with developing and building different maps for the ticket office’s website. Levey, in previous semesters, had experience working in the Kansas Athletics Ticket Sales office as a student-worker which helped him secure his internship at MSU. “Throughout my time [at MSU], I learned a great deal of what it takes to be successful in a division 1 athletic department,” Levey said. “I was able to learn more about Paciolan ticketing software and build off my knowledge that I learned in the Kansas ticket office.”
One of his favorite parts of his internship was working a variety of athletic events. In addition to that, Levey was also interested in the differences between how the Big Ten conference operates — in terms of ticket sales and regulations — in comparison to the Big 12. Levey also discussed the variety of lessons he was able to incorporate from his other undergrad classes in the Sport Management program. “The biggest thing that I was able to incorporate was what I learned in sports communication class and sports marketing. Working in the ticket office means that you are involved in many other aspects of the athletic department as a whole, so using what I learned in marketing and communication, I was able to fit in with those departments.”
After graduation, Levey plans to continue working in sports, though he doesn’t know quite where he’ll land yet. He hopes to potentially find a job with a ticket office, regardless if it is professional or a collegiate site, as this is where most of his experience is and because he has really enjoyed his time working at both MSU and KU’s ticket offices. “I am thankful for the opportunity [that KU Sport Management] gave me during my last semester to complete real-world experience prior to graduation, so that when I am graduated I have experience to build off of. The Sport Management program has prepared me to have a successful career in sports.”
Max Sanborn — Jayhawk Sport Properties
Max Sanborn spent his internship with Jayhawk Sport Properties as a Property Assistant and Gameday Specialist. Being from Kansas and having worked as a Gameday Specialist before his internship, Sanborn had a very strong understanding of what Jayhawk Sport Properties did and expected from him. Sanborn’s main tasks focused on helping fulfill client sponsorship requirements both at KU athletic events and throughout the week. “The amount of preparation and overall time that goes into a single gameday is a lot more than I anticipated,” said Sanborn when asked about his biggest takeaways from his internship. “There are a ton of ‘behind-the-scenes’ work that goes on that the public eye doesn’t see.”
The wide range of classes offered to Sport Management students was especially beneficial for Sanborn in helping him succeed at his internship. “The amount of group work we did in class made me more professional when dealing with different types of people throughout the internship experience.” One of Sanborn’s favorite aspects of his internship were the interactions he was able to have with everyone from his co-workers to clients on gamedays. “Getting to be a part of a team and succeed at our objectives will be something I will miss very much.”
After graduating this fall from KU, Sanborn has already accepted a position as an Account Executive at Worldwide Express in Overland Park, Kansas. “I enjoyed being a part of the Sport Management department here at KU for a variety of reasons,” he said. “There are so many opportunities to get your foot in the door, backed by the staff who want to see you succeed. The support has been tremendous and if I could do it all over again I would in a heartbeat. Rock Chalk!”
Murphy Tinio — KU Athletics Ticket Office
Murphy Tinio spent his internship with the Kansas Athletics Ticket Office as a Box Office Manager. Tinio’s main responsibilities included the training and supervision of all student workers, operating the Paciolan Ticketing Software, and effectively and efficiently handling communication with KU Athletics customers. In addition to those tasks, he served as the main point of contact for customer (both student and non-student) inquiries. By working in the ticket office, Tinio was able to work events for a variety of sports that included Women’s Soccer, Volleyball and Women’s Basketball.
Tinio had some experience working with the ticket office prior to his internship, which helped him have more of a baseline understanding of what was expected, something that helped him succeed throughout the semester. One skill that he really improved upon was time management, as he constantly found himself having to manage multiple tasks at the same time for a variety of sports. “The most important thing I learned is that leadership and management works most effectively when you lead by example,” he said. In the fall semester, the Ticket Office hired seven new student-workers. By having such a high number of new hires, this required Tinio to step into a leadership role almost immediately. “Teaching them has been fulfilling because I’ve seen how the confidence in their work mannerisms has changed from when they first started. Overall, the work environment in the Kansas Athletics Ticket Office is second to none.” Tinio said that the class he most benefited from was Personnel Management in Sport because of the different styles of leadership he learned about and how it helped him shape his own style of work and what styles work best for teaching the other student workers.
Tinio will continue to work in the Kansas Athletics Ticket Office for the spring semester after he graduates. He has applied and interviewed at a handful of places but is still waiting to hear back. Tinio plans on applying for Graduate Assistantships and to a variety of other Graduate Schools, as well, to earn a Master of Business Administration. “The undergraduate Sport Management program at KU has helped me develop professional skills and given me experiences that I have been able to, and will continue to use, for the entirety of my professional career.”
Cole Tennyson — Longhorn Foundation
Cole Tennyson, like a handful of other students, chose to complete his internship outside of the Kansas/Kansas City area. Tennyson, originally from Kansas, worked as a Development Operations intern with the Longhorn Foundation, the fundraising arm for the University of Texas’s athletic department. Some of his responsibilities were to assist with operations, donor relations, the annual fund, and major gift projects throughout the semester. Those responsibilities varied as the semester went on. During the earlier portion of the fall, which included Texas Football games, Tennyson focused more on donor relations and operations. As football season came to an end, he was tasked with more assignments in relation to major gift projects. One project, in particular, that he assisted on was the renovation of the south end zone at the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (Austin, Texas). Tennyson was asked to do a handful of things including, but not limited to making stewardship calls to first-time donors, creating social media spotlights for student members, and managing and tracking donor redemption RSVPs for sport gift officers’ portfolios.
Tennyson was exposed to a variety of learning opportunities at his internship. “I think the biggest thing I learned was key insight into the donor cycle of fundraising and development,” he said. “I was able to learn about each step from identification all the way through stewardship and had a hand in projects at each step. Learning each of the different roles in a foundation was also key to my ability of understanding development and how the annual fund, donor relations, and major gifts interacts.” Tennyson said that his favorite part of his internship was getting to talk to and interact with the different donors, getting to hear their stories and all of the different things they loved about the University of Texas and the Longhorn Foundation.
The Sport Management class that he was most able to build off of at his internship was the Sport Fundraising and Sponsorship class. In addition to that class, Tennyson was also able to draw from his experience working gamedays at KU with the Williams Education Fund. By having a baseline knowledge of the importance and role of fundraising in college athletics, it proved very helpful to his overall success while at the Longhorn Foundation.
Post-graduation, Tennyson is looking to continue his career in development and fundraising. He’s currently in the process of interviewing at multiple universities but is hopeful that he will find a position that’s right for him. “The Sport Management Department has helped by providing me the overall knowledge of the sport industry,” he said. “But beyond that, it’s given me a multitude of opportunities to network and gain experience in the field, which I believe has put me a step ahead in beginning a career in collegiate athletics.”
