同性恋色情

In the News: by Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree | 

Instead, students in professor John Drea 鈥�80's classes are performing real evaluations of data they collect for professional sports teams, including the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Bears and Milwaukee Brewers.

鈥淚 enjoyed working with an actual person and knowing that what we were doing was going to be used to help other people,鈥� said Drevonte Hill '20, who graduated from 同性恋色情 this spring.

Hill spent his spring semester working with the Indiana Pacers.

In working with the NBA team, Hill and his group looked to identify the career path of the team鈥檚 president of ticket sales. The group looked at the resumes of the president for ticket sales for several organizations, how those people got their professional start, their education and the types of jobs they held before their current one.

鈥淭his was a real-world experience, something that I will take and use in the future,鈥� Hill said.

Drea has been building relationships with sports organizations across the country that work with his students each semester on projects in marketing and business administration.

The students often collect and analyze data sets to help answer questions for an organization that the team then can use in its business plan.

鈥淢y students come in and I help shepherd them through the process of collecting and looking at the data and then we load up and take them there to do a presentation of their findings,鈥� Drea said.

Sally Hixon '20, who also graduated from IC this spring, worked with the Milwaukee Brewers during the spring semester to look at the Major League Baseball team鈥檚 Friday night attendance, how promotions and wins impact attendance, and how the statistics compared to those of other teams in the area.

鈥淚 looked at it as a unique experience for an undergraduate student,鈥� Hixon said. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to graduate school and I鈥檝e been able to use it as a talking point. This is a team people know.鈥�

Being able to do these types of projects gives the students real-world experience that can be applied to any job, not just sports management, Drea said, adding that it鈥檚 also a good experience to add to a resume.

鈥淔or every student, it鈥檚 an experience for their resume that becomes a talking point,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you put on your resume that you spent a semester working for the Pacers, they鈥檙e going to want to know what you did.鈥�

Graduate Alexa Walker '20 and her group worked with the Chicago Bears to see how the brand resonated with its fan base and how it compared to other teams.

For her, the project was an opportunity to enhance her communication skills and learn to adapt to new situations.

Because of the COVID-19 virus, Walker had to learn new technology skills to be able to develop the project with her group, she said.

鈥淲e learned about being adaptable, turning this unfortunate situation into a learning situation,鈥� Walker said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have the strongest background in technology and had to adapt.鈥�

One thing the students get that they don鈥檛 get with a normal project is honest feedback, Drea said.

鈥淭he type of feedback they get is different, these people aren鈥檛 paid to be nice,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t helps the students learn how to present things in the best way.鈥�

Rob Brown '14, director of consumer sales for the Pacers, said he enjoyed working with the students.

鈥淲e have really enjoyed the work 同性恋色情 students have done for us,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭he solutions and ideas they have presented have been creative and the presentations have been very informative.鈥�

The project reaffirmed for Hill that he would like to work in the sports field, he said.

鈥淚t allowed me to put all of my interest into the project,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t helped me develop my ability to be more detail-oriented, which is something I will take into any career.鈥�

It also helped with students鈥� presentation skills, Hixon said.

At the end of the semester, each group presented the findings of their projects to the organizations with which they worked. Traditionally, groups travel to the organization鈥檚 home base and present their findings in person but, because of the pandemic, all meetings were held virtually.

鈥淲e were originally going to go to Milwaukee, but were able to do it over Zoom,鈥� Hixon said. 鈥淲e were all really nervous still, but I think it was a little less stressful, not to be standing directly in front of them.鈥�