“We place a high importance on quality internships for our students,” said Benjamin D. Goss, Ed.D., associate professor of marketing and director of the sport business academic program. “An internship is the springboard from the classroom and into entry-level employment. As a result, we seek to place our students into high quality internships that provide meaningful work experiences.”

Over the summer, three students in the Sport Business Program: Maria Boden (senior), David Meyrick Lamb (junior), and Domenic Petracca, participated in internship experiences, each definitely providing meaningful work experiences.

Boden worked as an integrated media intern for The Miami Dolphins Finsiders a highly interactive multi-media show that airs directly from the Dolphins Training Facility in Davie, Fla.

In photo at right, Boden, center, is collecting audio at Mini Camp Day 2, from Dion Jordan # 85, for dolphins.com and Finsiders. (Official dolphins.com photo.)

“I’m glad to have had such a unique opportunity,” said Boden. “My duties as an intern varied some days but included working alongside the producer, hosts, and video producers, transcribing audio interviews and show segments, learning about the audio board to record the show daily as it went live, overseeing Training Camp in the Media tent, and more.”

Petracca, pictured left, interned with the Wareham Gatemen, a team in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

“I was in charge of supervising a baseball clinic for six weeks with kids ranging from 2-14 years old,” said Petracca. “In addition, I was solely responsible for all of the sponsorship deals that were created this summer, and delivering invoices to businesses. Later in the summer I took on the task of advertising and selling merchandise at the clinic, and produced big numbers in a short time span, which was challenging. I also used this opportunity to create a side job for myself and teach and instruct children on the fundamentals and mechanics of baseball. It was a rewarding experience.”

Lamb, pictured right on the set of the Golf Channel’s ‘Morning Drive’ show, interned for The Ladies Professional Golf Association at their headquarters in Daytona Beach. Lamb is currently a student assistant coach for the Stetson University football team and vice president of the Sport of Business Association and will be the tournament director for the Men’s Golf Invitational in November.

“My dream,” explained Lamb, “is to work in professional sports, travel the world, and then eventually return home (Mount Carmel, Pa.) to give back to my community.”

“My internship over the summer was a great opportunity,” said Lamb. “I worked for the Teaching and Club Professionals department, which is in charge of certifying women as professional teachers of golf.  I had the chance to be a part of the tournament staff for an LPGA Tour event called the International Crown at Caves Valley golf course, Md. For my main project I planned an organization for the 2014 Teaching and Club Professional National Championship at Chateau Elan Golf Course, Ga. I also had a chance to take a tour at the Golf Channel, be a part of a golf teaching photo shoot, and took a trip to the Daytona 500. The best part of the interning at the LPGA was meeting and working with the some of the best people I have ever met. It was a wonderful experience,” said Lamb.

“The success of our internships happens for two reasons,” explained Goss. “First, our faculty work tremendously hard to network in the industry and promote our great program. Second, our internships are overseen by Dr. Betsy Clark, a sport industry veteran who served for more than 15 years as Vice President of Professional Development for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). She is both highly connected and highly respected throughout the industry, which helps open many doors for our students.

“Over the years, Dr. Clark has developed a fantastic and thorough internship system in which students document their performance, receive highly relevant feedback and complete meaningful projects and assignments. She works extensively with them before and after the process in an effort to help them successfully break into the sport industry if they decide that such a career is for them. In my 17 years as a sport business professor, Clark’s internship system is by far the most outstanding I’ve seen. It’s an ideal model for any college internship program,” said Goss.

by George Salis and Maria Boden