Photo courtesy of Gordon Brann
Students in Rick Parks’ Sports Marketing II class had the opportunity to attend the Pistons vs. Hornets game in Charlotte Dec. 7. The trip was a part of the real-world experience Parks tries to implement in his classroom.
“I just think an opportunity to see something like an NBA game is just really cool,” Parks said. “We also toured the Panthers stadium and sat down for a one or two-hour conference for executive roundtable discussion about different types of jobs and opportunities. They learned a lot.”
Students felt that the trip benefited their knowledge of sports marketing and contributed positively to the curriculum.
“I learned a lot about how real sports teams use marketing to their benefit,” junior Jake McNeill said. “The type of tactics they use, all their strategies, things like that.”
Junior Bayan Dadressan agreed that the trip was a worthwhile experience for the students interested in the marketing field.
“The visit was a great learning experience,” Dadressan said. “We got to interact with the head department of the Hornets’ facility and break down their day-to-day life, really analyze how they live and what their job requires. We got to figure out if that’s a path we want to take or not career wise.”
While other classes throughout the school aim to apply real world learning opportunities inside the walls of their classroom, students say that this trip in particular improved their comprehension of real careers and opportunities available in the marketing world.
“The seminar we went on gave us a good perspective on what’s out there,” junior Lindsay Denny said. “Outside of sports marketing and plain marketing, there’s a lot of opportunity out there.”
Whether you’re a basketball fan or not, students agree the trip was fun and worthwhile.
“It provided great examples of what we can do with the information from this class,” McNeill said. “It was fun and it was interesting. Pretty much what you want to gain from a field trip.”
– By Zoe Willard
