Name: Aidan Jensen
Hometown: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Year: Class of 2019
Major: Sport management
Internship: Jensen spent the summer with the Burlington Royals, the Rookie-level affiliate for the Kansas City Royals, as the game-day promotions intern. As a member of the promotions team, he was responsible for selecting people and leading game day on-field and in-crowd promotions.
How HPU helped you get there: “High Point University was the reason I had the opportunity to pursue this internship. I found out about a career fair the Burlington Royals would be attending and decided to go. Since my freshman year, I visited the Office of Career and Professional Development to see the peer career advisors and Faith Cochran, my internship advisor, to get help with my resume and cover letter. During my senior year, I would visit Kellie McLeod, my career advisor, and she was the most helpful person in preparing me for the application process, as I would meet with her to conduct mock interviews. Their office also provided career fairs and networking opportunities that helped me polish my communication skills. I went to over five career fairs during my time as a student, and with each one, I knew what I needed to do differently in order to make the best impression on my employers. Going to all these career fairs helped me create a great network, and because of the skills I learned at HPU, I still keep in touch with some of the people I have met through networking events.
Most impactful mentor at HPU: “The professors at HPU are some of the greatest people I ever worked within my life. Specifically, Dr. Jenny Lukow, Dr. Patrick McConnell, Dr. Florian Hemme, Sam Phipps and Taylor Miller, helped prepare me for my internship by teaching all of the different tasks one performs as part of a sporting organization. Each of my professors helped prepare me by giving me the opportunity to work on real-life simulations for a sporting organization. In addition to multiple additional exercises, my professors were always available for me, whether it be through pre-class or post-class meetings. They would always make sure that they set aside even five minutes in their busy days to talk with me about my career interests.”
What has your internship experience been like, and how is it preparing you for your future?: “This internship cemented why I want to pursue a career in minor league baseball. All of the close friendships I made with my colleagues, with people from the City of Burlington, the community-oriented feel of my job, showed me how interesting it is to be a part of the preparation and facilitation of a minor league baseball team on game days.”