University of Minnesota Athletics
Summer Update: Jordan Smith
8/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Gopher baseball student-athlete Jordan Smith is gaining valuable work experience this summer as an intern for the 2016 Ryder Cup. The Eden Prairie, Minn. native was named to the Academic All-Big Ten team as a junior. On the field he had a .296 batting average with three homeruns and 34 RBIs. As an operations assistant, Smith will assist with duties that take behind the scenes to put on the golf tournament. Read more about his internship in the question/answer session he participated in.
Gophersports.com: How did you hear about this internship?
Jordan Smith: I heard about the internship through the university's gold pass website. The website lists job openings and internships for students.
GS: What would you like to do after you graduate and how does this internship help you accomplish your goal?
JS: Still not quite sure what I want to do after college. I know something involving sports, and there are many different directions I can go within the industry. This internship, most importantly, will help me gain experience which will help me land a job once I graduate next spring. A lot of student-athletes leave college without any work experience so having a five month internship on my resume will hopefully give me an advantage once I am done with college and job searching.
GS: What has been the best part of your internship so far?
JS: So far the best part of the internship has just been being part of a mega event such as the Ryder Cup. I had no idea how much work and effort goes into an event like this. I also enjoy riding the fork lift around since not many people get to do it and it is something different.
GS: What is one thing you are going to take away from this experience?
JS: Besides learning a lot about the behind the scenes work that is done for an event like this, knowing you played a part in running a successful event such as this will be something I will never forget. The Ryder Cup only takes place in the United States every four years so being involved in a unique event like this is a pretty sweet deal.
GS: What are you looking forward to this upcoming season?
JS: The thing I am most looking forward to is being back with the guys. I know we have a solid squad coming back this year so I believe we have a chance to be back-to-back Big Ten Champs and make a deep run into postseason play! Also, playing at the new U.S. Bank Stadium will be pretty awesome.
