July 24, 2014
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - In April, the Purdue Athletics Department selected six student-athletes to serve as interns in various areas this summer, one each in communications, compliance, John Purdue Club, marketing/fan experience, ticket operations and the John R. Wooden Leadership Institute.
The first-year internship program, coordinated by academic support services advisor Laura Schnell, aims to provide student-athletes real-world experience working within a university athletics department and help them in their desired career paths. They will be working 150 hours between May and August and will be paid $1,500 for their service.
Senior long snapper Jesse Schmitt, an organizational leadership and supervision major, took a little time away from his workouts and his internship with the athletics communications office to update purduesports.com on how everything is going.
How has the internship been going?
The internship has been going very well. I have been learning a lot of things that will be good to know when I go into this field in the future. I have been getting along with all of my co-workers very well.
What, if anything, have you learned through the internship so far?
I have learned some very valuable things so far during this internship. I have learned about AP style writing, which has some variation from regular style writing. I have learned how to write the bios for a couple different sports teams. I have learned how to use some new software, such as Adobe InDesign, that makes doing a lot of the work much easier. I have been able to start sorting out what are good video clips for highlights and what clips are not.
Do you have a new respect or understanding for what goes on behind the scenes in the department?
I had some sort of idea about a lot of the work that the communications department did, but there are many things I have learned and did not realize had to happen. I have a lot of respect for what they do because they work very hard at what they do and the hours can be very long sometimes, especially during the teams' seasons.
What is your typical day like? How do you balance your new work schedule with your offseason workouts?
I go to my internship in the mornings, then go to workouts in the afternoon. It can make for long days sometimes, but I enjoy it because I am being productive most of the day. I am also taking an online class so I have to make time for that too.
Has your internship changed your career plans or made it clearer to you what you might want to do?
This internship has not changed my career plans. I still want to go into this field. I have enjoyed the work I have been doing this summer. It has made me want to continue to do this type of work in the future.