SAAC Series: Summer Internships
8/18/2021
Sean Dube '22 | Men's Soccer | Naperville, Ill.
This summer, I have been helping at The Volume Podcast Network which is a startup social media company founded by the famous sports media personality, Colin Cowherd. The Volume hosts several podcast talents including Aqib Talib, Renee Paquette, and Cooper Manning. At the beginning of the internship, I ran analysis on The Volume Twitter Account and provided them with a dataset of all their tweets and interactions with certain accounts for them to provide feedback to their sponsors. The majority of my workload includes clipping during Youtube Live Streams and helping create and curate content for their Instagram and Twitter Accounts. I enjoy this internship because I am immersed in sports media, and I can learn more about podcast production through Spotify and Youtube. The culture is more relaxed and the workload is verymanageable giving me time to enjoy the summer.
Sarah Edelson '23 | Field Hockey | Blue Bell, Pa.
This summer I am a fellow at True Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early stage tech startups. As part of the program I am interning with one of True’s portfolio companies, a sleep tech company called Hatch, in their finance department. I look forward to the twice a week sessions where the whole cohort of fellows convenes with the True team to learn about the investment process, hear from company founders and entrepreneurs, and discuss emerging technologies.
Sierra Cox '22 | Volleyball | Dallas,Texas
This summer, I am working as an Influencer Marketing Intern at The Knot Worldwide, the parent company of multiple wedding planning platforms. I research influencers and celebrities that we
could potentially partner with as well as execute all of the insights and analytics on how our influencers’ content is performing. Influencer marketing at The Knot Worldwide is a bit different than what I’ve done in the past, as the time frame in which we can work with the influencer is limited since they must be engaged. I also run the list of what couples we think *might* get engaged soon that we could potentially work with which can feel a bit creepy, but it is definitely important to stay on top of future partnerships. This opportunity has been very beneficial to my learning, as I’ve been able to see the processes and negotiations of creating partnerships with celebrities and influencers on a much larger scale than I’ve ever worked with in the past. The wedding industry is booming right now post-covid, so my days are busy yet always fulfilling, as my work ultimately plays a part in creating some of people’s greatest lifetime moments.
Paul Jackson '22 | Football | Palo Alto, Calif.
Summer 2021 I worked for Apple within their R&D department “TDG”. My role as an Engineering Undergrad Intern required a variety of technical, managerial, and interpersonal skills which overlapped with EPM and SWE roles. My team at Apple worked on a variety of different areas of the company and directly reported to Apple leadership. A internship long project I received was with running my own user study for one of Apple’s new products where I met +800 Apple Internals. The project was impactful for me because it was an early iteration of a process that will meet Retail Stores and Online in the coming years.
Isabel Stern '23 | Women's Soccer | New York, N.Y.
This summer I am working as a Brokerage Intern at JLL, which is a Real Estate services company. My team represents landlords and tenants across New York City and we are responsible for leasing out office space and helping tenants find space for their businesses. While I am not tied to a desk because most of my days consist of hopping from building to building to give tours and meet with the owners, the internship is in person which has been great! My favorite part of my experience so far has been visiting lots of new development sites where construction is still in progress. These buildings are brand new and many of them have amazing views of the city. I've also spent a lot of time at the Empire State Building since my team represents the landlords there. As a native New Yorker I normally don't find myself there, but it's been cool to be in the building and go up to the observation deck a couple of times. I'm in my last few weeks now, so the other interns and I are working on a pitch as our end of summer project. Overall I'm really enjoying my summer at JLL!
Carson Marano '23 | Men’s Lacrosse | Jenkintown, Pa.
This summer I have been working as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow in Professor Kate Follete's astronomy lab at Amherst. I have been working on the CASPAR database, which stands for the Comprehensive Archive of subStellar and Planetary Accretion Rates. The main purpose of the CASPAR database is to compile all of the known, published accretion rates into one database so that people can easily search for and analyze the data for relationships and, hopefully, use the data to learn new things about how stars and planets accumulate mass and grow in size. My main focus this summer has been to search for updated data regarding the position and movement in the sky, as well as the distance, for the objects present in the database. Along with this, I also worked on analyzing the data to try and unify age measurements and determine the original position of the stars.
Janelle Jin '23 | Women’s Golf | Saratoga, Calif.
This summer I am an intern at Atlas Digital Partners, a consulting firm based in Birmingham. We are working with a fashion eCommerce startup to improve its logistics and generate more traffic. Along with strategizing ways to increase sales, I have spent a great deal of time working in the backend of Shopify adding and changing features, which in the beginning felt like another language. It has been fulfilling to implement my own recommendations and see the changes right in front of my eyes. It is really interesting being behind the scenes and learning about the amount of work and effort that goes into building a company.
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee | 2020-2021 Recap
6/1/2021
Although Amherst Athletics were cancelled in Spring, Fall, and Winter of 2020, the Amherst College Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) knew that our job was far from over. In fact, it was more important than ever to continue to create a sense of unity among all students, advocate for the student-athlete voice, take action in our larger local community, and push for increased mental health support on campus. To these ends, we identified three areas that we wanted to excel in: Student Wellness, Campus Engagement, and Community Involvement. Through virtual 5ks, social media campaigns, in-person COVID-safe events, and lots and lots of Zoom calls, SAAC is grateful for the opportunity to share this reflection on our 2020-2021 experience and a look into our post-pandemic future.
Student Wellness
The first priority of the SAAC e-board for 2020-2021 and beyond is the mental health of all Amherst students, specifically challenges that face those in the athletic community at our school. As athletes who are often hyper-focused on our physical abilities, we want to turn this same attention to our mental health and who we are as complete individuals, on and off the field. This year, we are launching the new "We Are. One Herd." campaign during the NCAA D3 Mental Health Week, May 3-7, along with baseball's "Green Game," where athletes will wear green wristbands that represent mental health awareness and the Wellness Center's Garrett Fitzgerald will provide resources and increase awareness about the Center. We will also sponsor a wellness focused speaker series, featuring a conversation about the relationship between hypermasculinity and sharing mental health challenges, tips for how to work through the end of a career or a challenging injury, and a talk about body image, social media, and self love.
For long-term change and advocacy for comprehensive mental health support on campus, SAAC is proud to be partnering with Hope Happens Here, a student organization founded by Health and Wellness E-board Member Carley Daly (women's hockey '23). After finding "a stigma around mental illness on campus and a lack of conversation about the issue, especially in athletics," Carley was motivated to start a chapter of the Hope Happens Here non-profit at Amherst. Although it is a primarily student-athlete run organization, HHH is open to everyone and encourages everyone to join the club in "attending events that promote awareness, starting the conversation, and breaking the negative stigma associated with mental health" Starting next week, SAAC and Hope Happens Here are launching the first campus-wide "You Matter Because" campaign, where students can anonymously send a "You Matter" e-mail to a fellow student through the you-matter@amherst.edu e-mail. We hope that all students will take the time to participate in this program, and spread some meaningful support to their fellow Mammoths.
Campus Engagement 
In a more typical year, SAAC Campus Engagement "Game Day" team works to feature athletic events around campus and increase attendance by competing in half time challenges, giving out free swag, or other fun activities. This year, with Amherst College fall and winter seasons put on hold, our focus turned to the athletic events that were still happening: the MLB World Series, The Patriots vs The Raiders, The Broncos vs The Buccaneers, and the March Madness Semi-Final between South Carolina and Stanford. SAAC Treasurer Harris Foulkes and SAAC Campus Engagement lead Isabel Stern (women's soccer '23) organized on campus showings to bring together 200 members of the student body in the Powerhouse, LeFrak Gymnasium, and even on the Quad to enjoy Insomnia Cookies, Antonio's Pizza, Wings Over, and a shared love for sports. Remotely, Olivia Polischeck (women's cross country '21) has assisted in developing posters and creating hype for the events! SAAC is excited to continue to host these events, especially in future years without capacity constraints!
Zooming out, SAAC was also proud to have a national impact by working with Amherst College Votes to register, remind, and encourage Amherst students to vote. As an organization, AC Votes provided remote and on campus students with information about registration deadlines, how to submit your absentee ballot, and the best strategies for voting during a pandemic. To help broaden the AC Votes movement, SAAC Vice President Rachel Ruderman worked with each Amherst team to designate two athletes as Civic Engagement Representatives to answer questions and provide support throughout the voting process. As a result, 95.6% of eligible student athletes voted in the 2020 election.
Finally, SAAC is very excited to announce that NESCAC Rep Bryce Lauletta (football '22) has been working with Student Affairs to launch "SuperFan" at Amherst, an app that rewards attendance at various events around campus, including athletic games, theatrical performances, dance recitals, academic department speakers, and other activities. With prizes such as school gear, special parking spots, raffle entries, and 1 on 1 alumni meet ups, Bryce is hopeful Superfan will "get students out attending events they otherwise wouldn't and explore all that Amherst has to offer. In the process, students will be able to show their school spirit and build a more connected and supportive Amherst College Community." SAAC will take responsibility for advertising the app, planning and sponsoring Game Days around a variety of events, and awarding winners with prizes.
Community Involvement
Moving beyond our own campus, SAAC was also engaged in the greater Amherst community. With Wesleyan University and Williams College, our Little 3 Rivals, we hosted a virtual "Turkey Trot" 5k over Thanksgiving Break to support the Special Olympics Massachusetts. Through t-shirt sales and donations from Amherst students and staff, we were raised over $1,200 for the Western Massachusetts branch of the organization. To make our relationship with Special Olympics Western Massachusetts more meaningful, SAAC Community Outreach coordinator Harris Foulkes (men's tennis '22) organized a "buddy system" where 20 Amherst student-athletes connected with 20 Special Olympics athletes through letters, e-mails, phone calls, and zooms. These friendships were particularly poignant this year, when many athletes missed competing in their sports and the camaraderie of their teammates. Corey Goldstein (men's hockey '21) had the following to say about his relationship with the group: "Reflecting on these past 4 years, I think some of the most impactful experiences I've had as an Amherst athlete have been on Sunday mornings volunteering with Special Olympics. Though the pandemic has prevented a lot of that from happening recently, this SAAC initiative has been a rewarding alternative for me. I always look forward to the weekly calls I have with my buddy, and I feel like we are really starting to forge a connection that will last long after I have graduated." While this was our first time partnering with Special Olympics Western Massachusetts, it is only the beginning. In addition to forming a club on campus dedicated to cementing our relationship with this Special Olympics, SAAC also plans to host an exciting "Play Day" in Fall 2021 where buddies can meet in person and cheer each other on.
Once in-person meetups can be a reality, SAAC is also looking forward to returning to our friends at the local Ft. River Elementary School. Launched in February of 2020, the program was off to a great start before both Amherst and Ft. River went virtual. Organized by Assistant Athletic Director and SAAC Faculty Advisor
Jen Hughes as well as NESCAC Rep Natalie Landau (women's soccer '22), Amherst athletes were invited to the Ft. River playground during recess times to assist teachers with facilitating engaging new games, providing mentorship and coaching, and simply making new friends!
A Message from the President - End of Year Reflection
Overall, the past academic year has presented new challenges and difficulties for student-athletes at the college. However, SAAC representatives from each team have persevered and were committed year-round to better themselves, their teams, and our communities. While we all would have loved to take the field, rink, court, track, or course, I am proud of SAAC for fully buying in and helping establish our three pillars for the months and years ahead: mental health and wellness, campus engagement, and community service. I hope everyone has a great end of the semester, and I look forward to hearing about the continued success and hard work of all involved.
We Are. One Herd.
Gib Versfeld (men's lacrosse '21)
