Since 2012, the UI Sport and Recreation Management program has been taking learning beyond the classroom, leading students on immersive field trips across the country to explore the sport industry and build valuable professional connections. You can support those efforts with a gift to the UISRM program before the end of the year to help send our students on a field trip in April.
UISRM will embark on a field trip to the Big Ten Conference headquarters near Chicago where they’ll meet and learn from top college athletics executives, including A.J. Edds, former Hawkeye linebacker and now Vice President of Football Administration at the Big Ten.
The costs associated with these trips are a barrier for some students. Your support can change that. By donating via the UISRM Field Trip Fund Drive before January 1, you’ll help reduce field trip fees, ensuring all students – regardless of financial circumstances – can access these transformative experiences. Your gift could even help fund additional trips, multiplying the opportunities for our students to learn and advance professionally.
These trips have changed the lives of countless students, such as Alex Martin (SRM BS 2016), Jody Henton (SRM BS 2014) and Rachel (Warford) Henton (SRM BS 2013):
- On a UISRM field trip to Kansas City during his senior year, Alex Martin learned about the Kansas City Chiefs internship program, and he applied and was selected to be a Community Relations intern following his graduation. The internship led to a job offer, and Alex is now the Hunt Family Operations Manager in the Chiefs front office, managing all communication for the team’s ownership group among other responsibilities. The proud owner of three Super Bowl championship rings, Alex said:
Iowa did a great job exposing us to the business of sports. Now my office is next to some of the folks I first met during that sport and recreation management field trip to Kansas City. - Alex Martin
Rachel and Jody Henton On a UISRM field trip to Indianapolis in 2012, Rachel Warford and Jody Henton were so impressed by the city and its sport community that they committed to moving there to pursue their dreams. After graduation, Rachel and Jody married, and they both found opportunities in Indy. Jody is now Manager of Premium Sales & Service for the Indianapolis Colts, where he has worked for more than 10 years. Rachel has held several sport event management positions over the years, and those experiences led to her current position as a Senior Associate at MBSA Events, where she plans and executes events for a variety of clients, including sport clients, and has served on the Indianapolis Host Committee when the College Football Playoff National Championship Game was held there in 2022. When they signed up for the UISRM field trip, Rachel and Jody never imagined it would lead them to their future home where they would settle down, raise a family and achieve their sport career goals, but that’s just how impactful a UISRM field trip can be.
Will you help us break down financial barriers and create life-changing field trip opportunities for the next generation of Hawkeye sport industry leaders like Alex, Rachel and Jody? Please make your donation before January 1 to help make this trip, and more like it, possible. Thank you for supporting our students and their dreams!
It’s easy to give to the UISRM program during this season of giving, and your gift will support the spring field trip to the Big Ten Conference headquarters and more trips like it. Thank you!