Current students are gaining valuable work experience through internships and practicums. Recent UISRM graduates are entering the sport and recreation industries with internships and full-time employment. Alumni are advancing toward their dream job. The achievements of UISRM students, alumni, and faculty that the program is aware of are below.

• Rachel Henton (BS 2013) received an invitation to serve on the 2022 College Football Playoff – Indianapolis Host Committee. 
• Matt Marquez (BS 2015 pictured below right) accepted the position of Assistant Director of Business Development for the Gary SouthShore RailCats.
• Taylor McElrath (BS 2015) accepted the position of Digital Producer at Swanson Russell.
• Zach Henkel (BS 2016) accepted the position of Membership Investment Representative at the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.
• Diana Dovenspike (BS 2016, MA 2019) accepted the position of Aquatics Coordinator with the YMCA of Greater Des Moines.
  
• Jared Mandel (BS 2016) accepted the position of Market Development Representative-Financial Services at DocuSign. 
• JT Mellecker (BS 2016) accepted a position in operations with Gorilla Packing Company, LLC.
• Morgan Rabine (BS 2017) was promoted to Manager of Corporate Partnerships with USA Wrestling. 
• Kaitlyn Sorenson (BS 2017) accepted the position of Service Advisor with Truck Center Companies.
• Michael Caligiuri (BS 2018) accepted the position of Residential Realtor at Iowa Realty. 
• Jennifer Fisher (UISRM Minor 2018, MA 2019 pictured right) accepted the position of Senior Coordinator for Social Media Strategy with NASCAR.
• Emma Gresson (MA 2018) accepted the position of Realtor at Realty ONE Group in Scottsdale, AZ.
• Shelby Haworth (BS 2018) was promoted to Product Specialist at eShow.
  
• Cody Moehn (BS 2018) accepted a promotion to Senior Recruiting Coordinator at Next College Student Athlete. 
• Haley Shaffer (BS 2018) accepted the position of Associate Recruiter at Cushman & Wakefield.
• Sarah Vollaro (BS 2018) accepted the position of Senior Program Manager at McChrystal Group.
• Brandon Wheeler (BS 2018) was promoted to RCA Specialist II at US Bank.
• Cole Steffen (BS 2019) accepted the position of Business Banker at Decorah and Cresco Bank & Trust Company. 
• Richard Stockton (BS 2019, ex. MA 2021) accepted the position of Lead Scout at Prep Hoops.
• Greg Ludwig (MA 2019) accepted the position of Recreation Supervisor with DeWitt Parks & Recreation.
• Grant Morse (BS 2019) accepted the position of Tournament Associate – Men’s Championships with the Florida State Golf Association. 
• Nicole Tennant (BS 2019) accepted the position of Business Development Representative with Your Castle Real Estate. 
• Macy Anderson (UISRM Minor 2020, ex. MA 2022) and Trent Schneider (MA 2020) participated in the NCAA Emerging Leaders Seminar.
• Laura Arens (BS 2020) accepted the position of Event Coordinator at Ewald Consulting. 
• Connor Bedford (BS 2020) accepted the position of Locker Room Assistant Manager at Chicago Highlands Club.
• Hannah Conlisk (BS 2020 pictured top right) accepted the position of Guest Services Intern at Daytona International Speedway.
• Morgan Dvorak (BS 2020) accepted a position with HyVee Grocery’s Merchandising Team.
• Brandon Eastman (MA 2020) accepted the position of Professional Tennis U Pro at Cliff Drysdale Tennis in Tyler, TX.
  
• Cody Kelly (BS 2020) accepted the position of Golf Pro Assistant at Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.
• Camden Long (MA 2020) accepted the position of Assistant Men’s and Women’s Tennis Coach at Centre College in Kentucky.
• Matt Roleck (BS 2020) accepted the position of Guest Services Representative at Riverside Casino & Golf Resort. 
• Kenady Wardenburg (BS 2020) accepted the position of Associate Golf Professional at Elmcrest Golf & Country Club.
• Patrick Belanger (ex. BS 2021) will attend Northwestern University’s Master’s in Sports Administration program beginning fall 2021.
• John Gibson (ex. BS 2021) accepted the position of Corporate Sales Trainee with the Kansas City Royals.
• Sabrinna Hegelheimer (ex. BS 2021) will attend Ohio University’s MBA/MSA Dual Degree Graduate Program beginning fall 2021.
• Eric Jacobsen (ex. BS 2021) accepted the position of FastTrack Manager at Avanade.
• Chuong Le (ex. BS 2021) accepted the position of Assistant Basketball Coach at Augustana College. 
• Rachel Montgomery (ex. BS 2021) accepted the position of Executive Director at Belle Plaine Community Development.
• Tanner Natzke (ex. BS 2021 pictured above right) accepted the position of Ticket Sales Representative with the Miami Dolphins.
• Kayla Oloffson (ex. BS 2021 pictured right) accepted a position in recreation program development with Pontiac Parks & Recreation. 
  
• AJ Poda (ex. BS 2021) accepted the position of Summer Sales Intern with the Waterloo Bucks.
• Matt Walters (ex. BS 2021) accepted the position of Game Advisor and Keyholder at GameStop.
• Nailea Valdivia (ex. UISRM Minor 2021) accepted the position of Student Marketing Team Member with Estela’s Fresh Mex. 
• Jenae Marshall (ex. UISRM Minor 2022) accepted the position of Event Management Intern with Prospect Meadows.
• Cameron Bottum (ex. BS 2023) began his role as Event Management Intern with Hawkeye Athletics.
• Jake Heitman (ex. BS 2023) will serve as Assistant Coach, Track & Field at Regina High School.
• Laura McGee (ex. BS 2023) accepted the position of Social Media Marketing Intern at Wright Family Spine and Sports Medicine.
• Jordan Loperena (UISRM Advisory Board Member) accepted the position of VP of Partnerships at Quicc.

Fans First Practicum

Congratulations to each of the students who participated in the Fans First practicum!

• Philip Abruzino, Kyle Allen, Kegan Adruser, Bradley Arp, Austin Ash, Mitch Boles, Jimmy Cervantes, Aaron Costello, Nick Dee, Aaron Detert, Raymonte Dow, Brandon Eastman, Jackson Figenshaw, John Gibson, Spencer Gudgel, Erika Hammond, Mechail Hunt, Keith Keahna, Alex Limber, Jordan Lippert, Alex Marinelli, Marcelina Marvelli, Noah Miecznikowski, Michael Olesen, Eavion Richardson, Logan Scheer, Tajuan Slater, Tre Stanton, Tanner Tolari, Kenneth Velu, Justin Wilk, and Yang Yu.

Fans First students typically provide front-line guest services at Hawkeye Athletic events. With Iowa Football taking place behind closed doors and other fall sports shifted to the spring, Fans First was excited to welcome Coralville's Xtream Arena and GreenState Family Fieldhouse as UISRM program partners. In addition to supporting several grand opening events, Fans First explored the growing sport of pickleball and competitive opportunities available for the facility to host. Mask Madness (pictured right) was one of the events created by Fans First during the fall. The spring Fans First practicum recently had the privilege of bringing this event to life at the GreenState Family Fieldhouse on March 14, 2021.

NASCAR/FOX Sports Practicum

Congratulations to each of the students who successfully completed the fall semester NASCAR/FOX Sports practicum course!

• Parker Adams, Fabiola Alsina, Bryce Benedict, Jimmy Cervantes, Hannah Conlisk, Trevor Donato, Nathan Escobedo, Chance Freed, Eric Gardner, Rachel Gentile, Greg Godellas, Tanner Hensley, Kevin Horan, Cole Janz, Ben Kayser, Zach Knudson, Kyle Koonce, Lexi Lapke, Payten Little, Tori Maiers, Cassidy O’Leary, Emma Osborne, Lauren Paisker, Danny Papan, Mitch Reyes, Kylie Schremp, Duncan Schultejans, Nathan Tauke, Tanner Tolari, and Maddie Walczak.
• Special congratulations to the project team of Fabiola Alsina, Rachel Gentile, Cole Janz, Nathan Escobedo and Tanner Hensley, whose efforts were singled out by executives as the top overall campaign.

During the practicum, students performed market research and developed and presented creative promotional campaigns designed to increase viewership of the 2021 Daytona 500 on FOX Sports and the length of time viewers stayed tuned in. The students received high praise for their work from Matt Nordby, NASCAR Senior Director of Communications, and Erik Arneson, FOX Sports Vice President of Media Relations, with such feedback as:

• “This was one of the best comprehensive performances we’ve seen!”
• “We can take something from all six project teams.”
• “Excellent attention to all the details.”
• “Next-level ideas.”
• “This idea breaks new ground and is one of the strongest I’ve seen at any school over the years.”
• “You hit it out of the park!”

One graduating senior in the practicum, Hannah Conlisk (pictured), leveraged her experience to get an internship at Daytona International Speedway – so she was able to work during the Daytona 500 after spending all semester researching the event. You can read more about Hannah and the success of the entire practicum in the story by the University of Iowa Strategic Communications team at this link: Daytona practicum puts Iowa marketers in pole position (click here).

Well done, students!

Kids on Course Practicum

Congratulations to each of the students who participated in the Kids on Course practicum!

• Jackson Allmon, Bryce Benedict, Samantha Bly, Brodie Bohlen, Mackenzie Bonner, Bradley Corrigan, Anna Dressen, Olivia Fiegel, Sabrinna Hegelheimer, Nick Joens, Jillian Kousins, Ty Marth, Paxton Meyer, Nathan Mylenek, Tre Stagen, Coby Wills, Sydney Winger, and Jack Wulf.

UISRM partnered with Kids on Course, an affiliate of the Zach Johnson Foundation, for the third consecutive academic year during fall 2020. Practicum participants produced a digital deliverable with information about the University of Iowa and age-appropriate enrichment activities for Cedar Rapids middle school students. Overall, the interaction with nonprofit site managers led to a virtual project intended to help the partner meet challenges related to COVID-19 and identify future paths for engagement with UISRM. Well done, Hawks!