{"id":16781,"date":"2014-08-28T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2014-08-28T16:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/?p=16781"},"modified":"2014-08-28T12:00:01","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T16:00:01","slug":"spring-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2014\/08\/28\/spring-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Training"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dancing the Macarena with a giant squirrel named Nutzy on top of a dugout wasn\u2019t exactly what Kayla Crawford had in mind when she signed up for her summer internship.<\/p>\n

\"kayla-crawford-intern\"<\/a>
Kayla Crawford ’15 spent her summer with the Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nevertheless, it turned out to be the best part of the University of Mary Washington senior\u2019s summer as she interned with the Richmond Flying Squirrels<\/a>, a minor league baseball team.<\/p>\n

Crawford, along with 30 other interns from throughout the region, learned about marketing, sales techniques, customer relations and how to interact with coworkers and supervisors, all while having a great time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really fun environment, very lively, a lot of people,\u201d said the business major. \u201cI like being interactive with people and I like being on the field; you feel special and important. You\u2019re in charge of creating that fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crawford is among more than 100 UMW students who completed internships for credit this summer for organizations ranging from Mary Washington Healthcare to the Edgar Allen Poe Museum. Each year, more than 400 UMW students participate in internships.<\/p>\n

These real-world experiences give students an edge in the job market after graduation, according to Kelly Graham, director of the UMW Office of Academic and Career Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternships, when done correctly, allow students to apply classroom concepts and develop important workplace skills,\u201d said Graham. \u201cHands-on projects overseen by a supervisor or mentor can build both technical and transferable skills. Interns also learn about the realities of a career field and begin to develop a network of professional contacts, key in today\u2019s competitive market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crawford routinely arrived at the stadium at 4:30 p.m. to prepare for a 7 p.m. game. After checking in with her supervisor, she spread out the red carpet for guests and set up games for kids.<\/p>\n

At game time, she always had a different task, but her favorite job was getting on the dugout between innings and dancing the Macarena and the cha-cha with the Flying Squirrels mascot, Nutzy, to entertain the fans.<\/p>\n

She also enjoyed selling tennis balls for a game called Launch-A-Ball.<\/p>\n

\"Crawford\u2019s<\/a>
Crawford\u2019s experience taught her what it would be like to work on the business side of a sports team. Photo by Norm Shafer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFor Launch-A-Ball, you have to have a sales pitch ready. You have to have it down,\u201d said Crawford. \u201cYou have to be able to handle rejection, not take it personally and keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crawford\u2019s experience helped her to learn what it would be like to work on the business side of sports, an area she\u2019s always been interested in pursuing as a career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is definitely worth it to do an internship, whether it is paid or unpaid, because you will gain experience that will make you marketable and valuable to employers in the future,\u201d said Crawford.<\/p>\n

After graduation, she plans to travel through Europe to continue gaining job experience through an organization called Workaway.info<\/a>, where she\u2019ll work at a variety of businesses in exchange for room and board.<\/p>\n

Her first stop is Granada, Spain, where she will help a family harvesting olives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kayla Crawford completes a summer internship with the Richmond Flying Squirrels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":16791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,81],"tags":[69,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-16781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-show","8":"category-umw-home","9":"tag-alumni2015","10":"tag-business","11":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSpring Training - Great Minds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2014\/08\/28\/spring-training\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Melina Downs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Melina Downs\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/40421ab26b3450232f0804c6b67525a7\"},\"headline\":\"Spring Training\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-28T16:00:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":537,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/20\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/Kayla-Crawford_HP.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"alumni2015\",\"business\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Show on Great Minds\",\"UMW Home Page\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/\",\"name\":\"Spring Training - Great Minds\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/20\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/Kayla-Crawford_HP.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-28T16:00:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/40421ab26b3450232f0804c6b67525a7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/28\\\/spring-training\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/20\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/Kayla-Crawford_HP.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/20\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/Kayla-Crawford_HP.jpg\",\"width\":3000,\"height\":1431,\"caption\":\"Crawford\u2019s experience helped her to learn what it would be like to work on the business side of sports. 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