Embracing Opportunities

For the second year in a row, Maryland Made took a group of Maryland student-athletes on a career exposure tour, giving them ample opportunities to learn new skills and experience different professions. This year, the group traveled to Atlanta and met with organizations in sports, business and healthcare industries. 

“The major benefit of the Career Exposure Tour is in the title... EXPOSURE! The Maryland Made unit prides itself on preparing student-athletes for life after sport and assisting them in finding their purpose,” said Resa Lovelace, Associate Athletic Director, Student-Athlete Development and Inclusive Excellence. “The 15 student-athletes that went on this trip received major exposure to graduate schools and corporations that they may have never thought were attainable to them because of how big the brand name is, but now, they know that everything is at their fingertips because they asked the questions and networked with the business. These two trips are just the beginning! My goal is to continue these trips every year, to get bigger and better, to visit more cities and companies.”

The immense benefits from the trip were felt by the student-athletes as well.

“The biggest thing I came away with was just the ability to step outside my comfort zone, be in a business setting, and speak my mind in that setting,” said senior football player Ruben Hyppolite II. 

“I really just wanted to put myself out there; that was my main goal, and I definitely accomplished it,” added junior gymnastics member Victoria Gatzendorfer. “Maryland Made is such a great program and I wanted to take advantage of all the great resources they had to offer and to put myself out there in a way that challenged me personally and professionally.”

The 15 student-athletes on the trip traveled around the city of Atlanta to places including the Salvation Army Peachcrest Unit and the Boys and Girls Club for community service work, the Morehouse College School of Medicine, the Home Depot headquarters and the CNN headquarters at the Warner Brothers facility. The group also took part in several networking opportunities both with different employees throughout Atlanta and with Maryland alumni in the area. 

“The biggest thing I learned was to just continue to always be working on my brand and to keep learning how to promote myself,” said sophomore Nyla Cherry from women’s track & field. 

Sydney Anderson, Maryland’s Big Ten Diversity Fellow and one of the organizers of the Career Experiential Learning Trip, saw the same takeaways.

“The student-athletes who attended this trip are better prepared for their future professional lives because this trip exposed them to different career options in the sport, corporate, and healthcare industries. They had direct access to industry leaders, and heard about their individual paths and what they should be doing now to get internships and full-time job opportunities. Additionally, they were also able to enhance their networks with UMD alumni, located in Atlanta, if that is a desired location to move to after graduation.”

The trip had everything from networking, to building community between different teams, and, of course, a fantastic time filled with lots of fun. 

“I really benefited from being able to network with so many people, with so many professionals in the corporate and sports industries,” Gatzendorfer said. “We also got to network with so many Maryland alums who were genuinely interested in helping us as fellow Terps. And because of that, I was exposed to future career options that I had never really considered before.”

The trip was just as impactful for the athletes who already had some idea about their career aspirations. 

“I was already pretty set on sports journalism going into this trip, but hearing so many people talk about their passion for working in sports on this trip just solidified that for me even more,” Cherry said. “I also met a UMD alum who’s going to mentor me in this field, so the trip helped a ton with all that.”

In addition to the professional development benefits, the trip was also big for strengthening bonds between student-athletes, especially between athletes from different teams. 

“There were a lot of faces on the trip that I had seen around the facilities before but we hadn’t ever really spoken,” Cherry said. “It was really cool to be able to put names to some of those faces and get to know people from different teams.” 

That sentiment was echoed by Gatzendorfer, who roomed with Cherry. The two traded stories about their respective sports and got to know each other on a personal level.

“A lot of the people on that trip were people I had never really had a real conversation with before, so it was so awesome to form new bonds,” Gatzendorfer said. “And now when I see these people around campus, I’m going to immediately go up to say hey and ask how they’re doing. Obviously a lot of the trip was networking with professionals, but we also got to network with our fellow peers which was almost just as important.”

For the student-athletes who partook in the trip, the experience was an incredibly impactful one that they won’t forget anytime soon. They credit Maryland Made with making the unique opportunity possible. 

“It means everything to me to have this type of opportunity,” Cherry said. “We get so locked into our sports during the year that we don’t always have time to think about life after graduation. But the thing is, you can’t avoid life after graduation, so a trip like this helps a ton with planning for that during a time of the year where we aren’t that busy. I’m very thankful that we have Maryland Made for things like this.” 

“It goes back to how blessed we are as Maryland student-athletes,” Hyppolite added. “We get these great opportunities that a lot of other people don’t get. It’s why I don’t take everyday for granted. Whether it’s playing football for Maryland or going on a career learning trip with Maryland Made, I try to embrace every single opportunity.”