On March 20, around 50 Poughkeepsie High School students and educators took a bus to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. to learn about how to have a career in sports.
“We weren’t there to see athletes. We weren’t there to see general managers,” School Counselor Jason Conrad, one of the trip coordinators, said. “We were there to understand the network of positions it takes to run an NFL team.”
Indeed, the members of the New York Jets team that most made an impact during the trip are not household names. In fact, the students didn’t even remember their names. But, they opened the students’ eyes to possible jobs to pursue.
“As someone who has an interest in business and finance, there are a lot of jobs you can get,” Chance Tangunu, a sophomore, said. “There are suites that are really expensive. Like, $30,000 per game. There’s a guy who sells them. I was able to ask him a few questions after he finished speaking and I learned a lot about sales.”
The students were able to visit the Jets’ locker room and team meeting space, outdoor practice area and the field itself, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And yet, the students had to be prompted to talk about that aspect of the trip. “I wanted to know more about the team,” Tyrese Smalls, a junior, said. “What does everyone else do in the background? I wanted to understand the different roles.”
Besides, Smalls said, the locker room “was smaller than I thought. It was claustrophobic, a little bit.”
That’s what Conrad and other chaperones like assistant principals Cecil Coston and Felix Contreras hoped students would glean most from the experience – the job exposure.
Conrad said nine employees spoke with the students, noting seven were women and some were women of color. Some worked in social media, some in hospitality and others worked closer coordinating with players. A team photographer was especially informative, he said.
“She was discussing and explaining to kids, if you want to be part of sports, you can be part of sports in multiple different areas,” he said. "One girl asked if you can get a job if you don't have a college degree. The photographer said she has a friend who works for the Detroit Lions and does the same thing she does and she didn't go to college but she specialized in photography.”
He said it was important students understood multiple different college degrees, or even just specialized training in a field, can lead to a job in sports.
“No one we spoke with said, 'I had a parent who works here. I have an uncle who works here,'” Conrad said. “They said they wanted to do something in sports, I applied for a job, and this is what happened.”
