University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
Summer Spotlight: Sophie Skarzynski
8/3/2018 10:38:00 AM | Women's Hockey
Senior Sophie Skarzynski has been a staple on the University of Minnesota women's hockey team. As she helped her team to a Western Collegiate Hockey Association Playoff Championship, the Lake Forest, Ill., native was also an Academic All-Big Ten and WCHA All-Academic honoree. A three year letterwinner for the Gophers, Skarzynski appeared in all 38 games for Minnesota last season. What some may not know about her, is that she already had a summer internship lined up midway through her junior year. The business and marketing education major spent her summer at Coyote Logistics as she prepares for her senior year. Take a look at what Sophie has been up to in this recent Summer Spotlight.
Gopher Sports: You're doing an internship with Coyote Logistics. How did you first find out about this internship and can you walk us through the process of you becoming an intern with their organization?
Sophie Skarzynski: I started looking for internships for the summer of 2018 in the fall of 2017. I really wanted to focus on playoff hockey in the spring and finish my semester strong, so I wanted to have that decision all laid out before I even went home for Christmas. I started looking online and utilized the resources of (Director of Student-Athlete Development) Anissa Lightner, who is very helpful, just for advice on places. I applied to a bunch of different internships and I really liked the culture and people at this one. So, I just decided that, as soon as they offered me it would be a great fit for the summer.
GS: What are your primary responsibilities while in this internship?
SS: Day-to-day it varies depending on what's going on. Coyote logistics is a third-party logistics provider, so they're technically a subsidiary of UPS. We were bought out by UPS in 2015 and so, as an intern, I'm doing a lot of carrier sales work, which means communicating with people who carry different products. For example, two weeks ago was peak season, so that week I was mostly focusing on where Amazon needed its Prime shipments to go, because Coyote is in the logistics and supply chain world. I coordinated a lot in areas like Seattle. There are some days where I'm focusing mainly on one company, and others where I'm focusing on building relationships. Also part of my internship is doing a lot of philanthropy for St. Jude's Hospital, which is super cool for me. That definitely was an appeal for this internship.
GS: What skills will you be able to take away from this internship and apply long term?
SS: I'm super thankful I have this internship. As a Division I student-athlete, it's very difficult to get a 40-hours a week internship. Luckily, everyone has been very flexible. With that being said, there have been a lot of takeaways that I can apply to my life outside of sports after college, but also things I can apply to my senior year on the women's hockey team. The biggest one would be patience. I think, at the beginning, I was frustrated learning. We have an in-house software system that can be very confusing, but after the first three weeks it was definitely better. So patience in terms of learning new things; I've been playing hockey and sports since I was two , so when I go out in the real world next May I'm going to have to learn new things. Second would be to ask questions. If you ask any of my coaches and teammates, I do tend to talk a lot; I'm pretty outgoing, but often times I can be hesitant in asking questions. We were told right from the get go in this internship that there were no bad questions -- this is all new, so we should be asking questions. I learned a lot on how to be both a leader and a follower from this job. As an intern, it's kind of like you're a freshman at a high school or college again. You're starting all over, and you just have to learn when to be a leader. With my fellow interns, maybe I know something that another one doesn't, versus with my boss who has way more experience than I do, so being more of a follower with him.
GS: You're a business and marketing education major. What would be your dream job down the road?
SS: As my dream job, I would love to be a professional hockey player and never have to worry about money, but I can't do that, which is okay! I'm fortunate I have a lot of older siblings who have been in the professional world for a while. My older sister does some non-profit work, and my older brother does IT consulting, and they're really happy with it. What they do sounds really appealing to me. To be honest, I don't really have a dream job. If I could find a way to help others, while also working with kids, I think that would be very rewarding. I have really enjoyed working with logistics and supply chain this summer, but who knows if that's something I would want to do long term. I could see myself doing marketing for a company, I could see myself doing consulting. I don't know if I have a dream job, but I like helping people.
GS: You were a part of the Leadership U retreat as you enter your senior year. Tell us about that event. What was the biggest thing you learned from that event?
SS: I loved the Leadership U retreat. The athletic department at the U is by far the best. I have friends all over, but one of the reasons they're the best is because we have these leadership options. For me, David Plummer and Dr. Anderson did a really great job, and there's so many people behind the scenes that I'm going to forget to mention. The biggest takeaway for me is similar to what I mentioned for my internship; how to be a leader, how to be a follower, and realizing that you're your biggest enemy. We were really put out of our comfort zone in this retreat. We were tested both physically and mentally and forced to adapt to our surroundings. We were all thrown on teams with different athletes, which I loved. I love the athlete community here. Learning how to be comfortable outside of my comfort zone was my biggest takeaway, along with the difference between leading and following and how there's a time and place for everything, and you are your biggest enemy. Before you can accomplish anything you have to be comfortable with yourself; you need to realize what you need to do. That was honestly the most eye-opening thing that I learned from the Leadership U retreat with the Navy SEALs -- you can't do anything if you're not comfortable with where you're at first. For me, as I'm nearing the end of my internship and grinding down these last few training days before testing for the season and my senior year starts, I need to be comfortable with where I'm at. It doesn't matter what everyone else is doing, just being comfortable with where I'm at so that I can contribute the most to my team.
GS: What are you most looking forward to about your senior year?
SS: As a senior, I think I've had a lot of growing up and realizations this summer. It's really hitting me that I am going to be a senior. With that, I'm looking forward to enjoying the moment, as cliche as that sounds. I just want to have fun; we have a really good team and a good opportunity this year. We have Kelly Pannek coming back from the Olympics, a lot of great freshman coming in, and it's just going to be really fun. We have a great group. I think this summer, being not as involved, having to train and work out by myself and not with the team because of my internship, I really appreciated how much I love and will miss my team when I do graduate. I'm really looking forward to bonding with the team for one more year. It's been a crazy three years, hopefully going for another national championship. I know we can do it, we have a lot of good teammates here, so it'll be good.