One Down, 11 To Go..

Remember how I mentioned last post that I was warned this experience goes by fast? Well, all the alumni and faculty who preached that wasn’t lying.

I feel like it was just yesterday I was moving to California and now it’s already the middle of September. Maybe I should refer back to the cheesy saying of: “time flies when you’re having fun”, but I’ve been living up to that saying.

When friends from Arkansas or Texas ask me about school and life in California, they all say they can’t believe I’m having this much fun for grad school. Or, they’ve never actually heard of someone who ‘loves’ their program. With all of the opportunities USF provides, I’m reminded each day how much of an impact this program is already having on me now, as well as my future.

Two weeks ago marked the ending of our first milestone. It was a little bittersweet ending Dr. Cellini’s class. We all enjoyed his class and learning from him, but we were ready and anxious for the next class to begin.

Before that, we all celebrated completing our first class together Labor Day weekend. We went to Mission Dolores Park to hang out and throw the football around in honor of football season being here. After that, a lot of us went to Austen Powers, Nick Walsh and Nate Sullivan’s apartment to barbeque. It was nice to be able to be together on this holiday weekend, especially for me when my family is back in Texas. But, I couldn’t be happier being a part of Cohort 39 and the USF sport management family. 

Here’s a cool picture I took at 20^th Street and Church Street overlooking the park!

After our fun weekend, it was time to get back to work. We began sports marketing with Dr. Goldman two weeks ago and none of us were really sure what to expect. From cohorts ahead of us, we were always given a few tips and advice to help us in the program, but since Dr. Goldman is new, we had no insight. We were a little nervous. 

After the first ten minutes of class, we all finally relaxed. Dr. Goldman has the ability to create an environment, for me at least, that is stress free. I’ve never studied sport marketing, or any kind of marketing for that matter, before stepping into Dr. Goldman’s class. Not only are we learning a lot already from him, he also brings a lot of international perspective and knowledge to the classroom.

The major assignment for the class is to create a new marketing strategy for a company or organization. We were put into groups and from there, we collectively decided on a place to work with. Similar to Dr. Cellini’s class, this allowed us to make connections within the business. But unlike Dr. Cellini’s class, it was in an area some weren’t necessarily interested in. This project teaches us how to get into the customer's minds. We get to talk to people first hand and conduct research of our own. Although this marketing strategy is only pretend, the organization has the ability to use our work if they want. So having the potential of helping an organization better is a bigger reward than just the grade Dr. Goldman gives us. We’ve learned connections in the business will help us in the long run, so having multiple connections in different areas of sport will only be beneficial in the future.

I talk about the future as if it’s so far away, when in actuality it’s happening now. It’s still hard to believe I’ve already been a part of this program for 10 weeks. I still feel very fortunate to be a part of this program but can’t believe how fast it’s going. I’m just reminding myself to take in every moment because graduation is just around the corner.

One class down, 11 to go..