
UF Students Participate in MLB All-Star Weekend in Miami
Major League Baseball’s midsummer classic and all of the events and activities surrounding it was played in Miami this year. This gave many of our UF students the opportunity to volunteer and participate in an wide range of activities throughout the week. Here are just a few recaps from our students that took advantage of this opportunity.

From Senior Telecommunications major, Charlie Jordan.
While working as a runner for MLB.com during the All-Star FanFest, I essentially did whatever was asked of me. This meant I was running around the Miami Beach Convention Center and making the production easier for those organizing it.
MLB.com held their own booth at FanFest, and I gave away a lot of free t-shirts over the course of six days. However, the position also required me to use a corporate credit card to purchase items for the event, and at times I was even running security for retired baseball star Frank Thomas. Another interesting task involved driving around South Beach to pick up lunch for the crew. Overall, this experience taught me to be humble and execute whatever job was asked of me. I made sure to double check with my supervisor and repeat whatever she told me to do, and that simple communication made the job much easier.
I really enjoyed working with MLB.com, because the production crew was so kind and welcoming. By the end of it, I honestly felt like I didn’t want to leave. While the job was tiring and challenging at times, it was a small introduction into the type of career I’d like to pursue, and that made it all worthwhile.
From 2017 Telecommunications graduate Anastasia Fraga.

I received the opportunity to work with the Major League Baseball Advanced Media team during the 2017 All-Star Game in Miami. Throughout the week of events, I worked closely with production managers formatting footage from events on location like the Junior Home Run Derby, local field dedications, and player interviews. I created, managed, and distributed a master schedule of All-Star events as well as collaborated with the camera crew, MLB.com, and MLB Network on deadline stories about All-Star weekend. I was even lucky enough to attend the All-Star game courtesy of the MLB. I made many connections with people from the organization and learned about the hard work and endless nights that are put into big events like the All-Star Game.

From Nina Phan, UF Business Admin Major with Specialization in Sport Management
As Photo Runners, our main duties were assisting the photographers and running their memory cards back to the photo room. At times, the photographers would need us to grab camera parts from the photo room or pass messages along to their team. There were photographers on three levels: field, tile (the lower deck) and concourse (the upper deck). We worked in teams of three and rotated through the three levels. One of us would collect memory cards from the three levels and run it back to the photo room at the bottom of every inning. There were Photo Runners for all four events- Futures Game, Celebrity Softball Game, Home Run Derby, and All-Star Game.

It was fantastic being able to experience the atmosphere of All-Star Weekend. One of my favorite parts was interacting with fans and feeding off of their energy and excitement. The Photo Runners at the field and tile positions essentially had a front row seat of all the action. We had a chance to interact with the photographers and one of them was actually a Gator alum. We got a glimpse into how photographers shot a game, especially when there are a lot of moving parts. One of my bucket list items was to attend an All-Star Weekend and this opportunity allowed me to not only check off that item but have a fun and memorable time.

