Looking Back and Looking Ahead

This is posted as part of our Summer Intern Blog Series. Be sure to come back each week as interns from around the country share their summer experiences with us!

By: Todd Rodgers, @Todd_TTU

As I return from a much needed week long vacation and prepare to start the second half of my summer here with ACU, I feel as though this would be a good time to write up a recap of all the exciting things I have been able to do this summer in case anyone have missed some of my previous posts!

Firstly, I have been able to spend a lot of time just building relationships with the people here in the athletic department here at ACU during this summer. It is reiterated over and over again by business professionals, but having strong relationships and people who will vouch for the work you do are key to being successful in this sport industry. A strong network is vitally important in order to move up the ranks in sports.

Secondly, I have gotten the opportunity to help ACU finish out its transition in to becoming a fully-fledged DI university. This past Friday, ACU was passed on to the final year of the transition in to being a DI school by the NCAA. Being from Abilene, being able to see how much ACU has grown and changed, while have an impact on that growth and change, has been a really awesome experience. Hopefully by this time next year, everyone at ACU will be celebrating the completion of the final year of the transition process and will become a full NCAA DI program.

I’ve also gotten the opportunity to experience some fundraising here at ACU. While fundraising is certainly not easy, especially for someone like me who has little prior experience in fundraising, it is certainly a very rewarding avenue of work. Fundraising gives you an opportunity to show your passion about the school you work for and the industry that you work in! Especially when it comes to capital projects, seeing funds being raised and projects be completed that help take the university to the next level is very rewarding.

While the work I do hasn’t always been the most exciting and in just my first week of my internship I was working nights and weekends for a high school baseball game, seeing the inner workings of an athletic department has been very beneficial. From working high school baseball game and understanding how every revenue stream is important, to acquiring computer asset numbers to upgrade the coaches’ computers and make for a more efficient work space, I look for the purpose and everything I do. I know that one day, understanding the inner workings of an athletic department all the way from the top down to the nitty gritty details will become a valuable asset.

Lastly, one of the most exciting projects happening at ACU right now, and there are a lot of them, is the continued construction on the new Wildcat Stadium. This stadium will be a new on-campus football stadium and will open for the 2017 football season. From just seeing blueprints and ideas last summer, to seeing a clear space of land filled daily with construction workers this summer, it has been awesome to see the stadium take shape. I am excited to see all the progress made during my week off and to see the continued progress throughout the rest of my summer and leading up to its completion in 2017!

As I get back in the office for the second half of my summer, there are a lot of exciting things I will be working on so stay on the lookout for the rest of my weekly posts this summer!