(Photo courtesy of Quad City Storm Hockey)

The Quad Cities Storm (Southern Professional Hockey League team) has employed many St Ambrose students throughout the years as interns, sometimes they may become full-time employees as well.

According to LinkedIn, getting an internship during college is important because it gives students some practical experience, professional networking opportunities, and the development of job-specific skills. 

Lilian Reid, a senior sports management major with a minor in digital media production says this internship “helps with my major experience because I can get different types of experience with knowing some of what goes into a (sports) game.”

Working at the Quad City Storm, Reid has had the chance to learn about what goes on behind the scenes for sports teams, nevertheless, the most challenging part is that even though she has already been with the team for a year, “sometimes not knowing answers to questions some fans may have, but if I don’t I will have them talk to other colleagues that might know what to answer.”

Internships around the Quad Cities are available to St Ambrose students through Handshake and LinkedIn, or with a professor’s help. And for some students, an internship might be required to be able to get their college degree.

Jackson Marker, a marketing and communications intern with Storm who became an intern through the practicum class at St Ambrose says, “I loved it so much that I asked to remain a part of the organization as regular game night staff for the rest of the 2022-23 season and then asked at the end of the season if there was any availability for me to take on an intern role the following year (2023-2024).”

Interns seem to like the internship so much that they usually come back, even from another country like Fintan Kelleher, an international alumni from East London, England who is now working full-time as an account executive for Storm.

Kelleher started as a group sales intern and worked directly with the director of group sales where he “learned all there is to know in terms of prospecting, cold calling, and ticket operations.” As an account executive, he now sells to all of those groups that are invited for each game where they have “theme nights”. 

“In my sophomore year, I had volunteered at some Storm games to gain some sport industry experience, and then in my junior year, the opportunity for an internship opened up, so I got in contact with the team president, and I started the internship the next week. The reason I wanted to do this particular internship was that I already knew that there was a great front office staff there, so I thought it would be a great way to get my first experience in sports sales. As for the full-time position, it was a similar story. I saw the job posted on a sports jobs website, I got in contact with the team president, I interviewed the next week, and I was lucky enough to be accepted for this full-time position,” said Kelleher.

Facing challenges is a part of learning, but for Kelleher, motivation is all you need to succeed and improve as an individual, “Facing rejection over the phone is difficult at first, but once you learn how to channel that rejection to improve yourself, it becomes much less of a negative. Sometimes you will face some harsh rejection from prospects, but at the same time, you will have great conversations with others and build great relationships that lead to sales and referrals in the future,” said Kelleher.

After a season full of broken records like attendance, group sales revenue, season ticket revenue, and others, the Quad City Storm Hockey team is looking for many more students to join their team, and anyone can apply as a volunteer or an intern. For more information go visit their website and contact the team, or ask your SAU professors about an internship opportunity.