Jan
23
Hi, my name is Courtney Chapman and I am the Public Relations Director for the Class of 2016 Council. During my freshman year, a friend of mine and I went to a career fair in Oklahoma City just to see what we were getting ourselves into with this whole college thing. We wanted to know what we could do when we left the University of Oklahoma to be successful in the workforce. I talked to many companies, and because I was a freshman I didn’t think I would get anything out of attending. I thought I was just coming with a friend to see what types of companies would hire Sooners.
I talked to the OU Athletic department at their booth at the career fair. They talked about internships, but again I was a freshman and an internship was the last thing on my mind. I thought internships were for juniors and seniors that wanted to be hired by these companies right after they completed their internships. Little did I know, the more internships you acquire during your college years, the more real life experience you have in a certain field that interests you. Athletics interested me.
A couple days later, I got an e-mail from the gentleman I talked to at the career fair, offering me an internship with the marketing department of OU Athletics. I was beyond excited and accepted the offer right away. I had an official interview a few weeks later, and I started my internship this fall during football season.
I attend office hours Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9AM to noon. During these office hours, I scan in paperwork, create spreadsheets for Sooner Rewards, file paperwork, mail autographed footballs and basketballs, organize apparel, advertise upcoming games and events on the South Oval, among many other things.
For football game days, I work an event called Fan Fest. Fan Fest is a large tailgate in the parking lot just in front of Sarkeys and next to McCasland Field House. I work in a trailer giving away free merchandise. We give out football, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, soccer, wrestling and spirit posters. We also give out cozies, schedules and much more. Our main goal is to get as many people to sign up for Sooner Rewards as possible. Sooner Rewards is a website that emails out a lot of cool promotions having to do with the athletics program. If you sign in at each Sooner Rewards hotspot, you gain points. These points accumulate and you win many items, from gift cards all the way to trips to the upcoming bowl game. Hotspots are found at many events around campus, especially games, meets and matches.
This internship has taught me so much about myself, and it has brought out many qualities I never knew I had. It has taught me a great deal about time management. I work my office hours until noon and I work another job from 1PM to 6PM Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I have class all day Tuesdays and Thursdays. I work games on Saturdays. I have to manage my free time wisely, which I do not have much of. I have to use that time to study and make sure I am caught up with all my schoolwork. I also have to make sure I am on time to each event I am scheduled to go to and make sure I am in the correct location at the right time. This internship has also taught me responsibility. Each day when I go into my office hours I have a list of things to do. I complete these tasks eagerly and quickly, and sometimes surprise the people I intern for at the quick pace of the completion of my tasks. I always make sure I get everything done on time and correctly. I have discovered how much I can be independent with this internship. A lot of the time I don’t get direction when asked to do something. I have to figure a lot of things out on my own, and I have learned that asking how to do simple tasks is very unnecessary.
It is never too early to start getting real life experience in the workforce. I discovered so many qualities I never thought I had in just a couple short months of working for the marketing department of OU Athletics. I highly recommend getting an internship if given the opportunity no matter what your grade classification is.
Your 2016 Public Relations Chair,
Courtney Chapman
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