Dear La Roche Students,
Please have a look at the exciting opportunity available with La Roche University Athletics. If you have questions or would like to apply, please contact...
In 2018, I started my college career at La Roche. Outside of handling classes, I became interested in Social Media during that first year after looking at the school's Instagram page for their athletics program. At first, I was curious about who was taking the pictures at the games and handling the pages for each team, hoping to get pointers from them, which would get me to dive more into photography. Still, as the semesters progressed, it went to the back of my mind until 2019. I met the Sports Information Director (SID) when I was taking pictures with the soccer team, and I learned that he was the guy behind both the pictures and handling the social media pages. I didn't ask any questions but was glad to figure out who he was. He was new then, but he knew about social media and photography, so I found the person I was looking for. Throughout the season, I started to see him take pictures at the practices and the games, and I got to see how he worked, which made me want to ask for some pointers, but I did not have the time, especially with the fact that the only time I saw him was at the games.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has had its toll on the United States. School is back in session with hybrid classes, and I just changed my major to Marketing (perfect timing). I got an email from the Career Development office in the middle of the semester. As a Junior, I have not looked into internships, mainly because I could not access reliable transportation. At the time, little content from the Career Development Office interested me, but this one caught my eye. It was an email looking for interns with the Athletics Program at the University. The first thing I saw was (no disrespect) a poorly designed flyer. It hurt my eyes trying to read it with the two typefaces that did not complement each other and a text border that made it almost unreadable. Somehow, my eyes gilded straight to "Graphics," and I thought, "Let's do this." I emailed the SID immediately, and we scheduled an interview the next day. We met and talked. He liked how invested I was in creating graphics and my work process, and I was selected! Another person and I got selected, and we had our first meeting. At that point, I didn't know it yet, but this opportunity would later decide what I wanted to do for my career.
During that Christmas break, I started creating templates for certain sports to give myself a head start on the work I might end up doing. I might have created about 40 templates during that break.Â
After the break, we went to work. We started having weekly Zoom meetings to discuss the basics behind the Sports Information position and its responsibilities. Later, we had in-person meetings to discuss how to use statistics programs, photography, and graphics. Learning how to do it was fun but a different experience applying it in-game. One sport I quickly developed a knack for was women's and men's lacrosse. I might have missed a few ground balls, but I instantly understood the stat-calling process.
Regarding graphics, I showed the SID and my coworker specific tips and tricks I learned throughout my design journey while also learning a few new ones that I use now. I still notice whenever someone uses the Gloss and Bloom font wherever I go.
I am grateful for this opportunity since it reminded me about doing socials for my middle and high school soccer teams back home in St. Croix. It opened my mind to what to aim for when it comes to careers I want to do when I graduate. The internship also opened my mind as a student-athlete to how tedious the job of a SID is and created a new respect for one, my internship director, and SIDs in general.
Here is some of the work I've done! I've included an article discussing the program along with my personal thoughts on it.
Internship Work
Internship Article
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