Monday - High School, Tuesday - College, Wednesay - Post Grad Internship, Thursday - Grad School, Friday - May 09 - Now
Part 4: There & Back Again
The best thing about my time at Quincy University as an under grad was the friendships I made. There are many things that can make college challenging for someone and whenever I was going through something, I had plenty of friends to help pick me up. Upon my return to QU, most of the friends I made from 2003-2007 had moved on. Due to graduations and defections, most of the younger guys from the basketball team had left. My two assistant managers were still on campus as well as a former player who was finishing up his last semester in the fall. Aside from those three, the only existing relationships I had with any students were a few players from the women's basketball team. I wasn't too bothered by it because I viewed myself as part of the staff and didn't want to run around a small campus with the current students, making a fool of myself. I had my fun the first time around, I didn't need to relive the glory days.
Mike and I picked up where we left off and I hit the ground running. I was in charge of all aspects of the intramural program. The two biggest challenges with running the school's intramural program was getting students signed up for events, and getting them to show up for events. Everyone thinks it would be fun to do this event or that event, so they sign up, but inevitably a few teams always fall by the way side and it ends up throwing a wrench in the scheduling. That was easily the biggest headache for me.
The work load wasn't bad and I was familiar with the way we ran our intramurals, so that aspect of my year wasnt overly challenging. The stress I encountered that year came from everything else. I don't want people to think I'm just a whiner and complainer because I'm very lucky to have experienced all that I have and very appreciative of Mike and Quincy for giving me the opportunity to work on my MBA, but that was easily the toughest year I've ever had. The school took care of room and board, I had a free meal plan and no tuition. That's a hell of a deal when you're looking at the cost of getting your masters from a private institution. All benefits aside, I still needed money for my personal expenses so I looked for a part time job and found one working at a Hibbett Sports in the Quincy Mall (They've got it all...). I made minimum wage and only worked a few mornings a week since all my classes were at night and rarely on weekends because the majority of the intramural events took place on the weekends.
Quincy offered an accelerated Masters program and you could very easily earn your degree in one calendar year. Evidently my Sport MANAGEMENT degree didn't fulfill all the prerequisite requirements for all the MBA classes so I was forced to take a few under grad classes as well as a class at a local community college in order to be eligible for the 2nd trimester in the MBA program. Another problem arose when you look at the conflicting schedules. The MBA courses were on a trimester schedule and the undergrad classes were semester. During the first trimester I took one MBA class, two undergrad classes through quincy (they would only pay for 3 at a time) and one class at the community college. Once the first trimester ended, I gained three MBA classes in addition to my three undergrad classes. Between working with intramurals, a part time job, 2 afternoon undergrad classes, 4 night classes, intramural events after the night classes and on the weekends, you wold be safe in saying I was a little busy.
I was still pretty bummed about how I blew the interview for the Missouri Valley Conference internship when Mr. Elgin called me one september afternoon. I was surprised that it was Doug calling and even more surprised when I learned it was about a job opening in their office. The job was in Championships - the mother ship was calling me home! Doug was surprised himself when he learned that I was no longer in Texas and back at Quincy workings towards my MBA. I had never had any set plan about when I would go back to school. I always assumed I would wait until I was settled in a job somewhere and chip away at a few classes each year but clearly, I was open to going back full time and much sooner as well. So when I learned there may be a job at the MVC, the last thing I was worried about was my MBA - there would be time for that later I thought. Turns out, I put the cart before of the horse again and the position went to someone else. Doug hadn't realized I had made a commitment to my alma mater and felt bad for dangling the carrot. I have to admit, losing out on that job hurt, but it wasn't all for naught. Doug invited me down to St. Louis to help with their conference championship tournament in the March and I jumped at the chance to do so.
The academic year drug on and the weather turned cold - to say I missed the warmth of Texas would be an understatement. During the short time I was wrestling with the idea of potentially leaving school for a job with The Valley, I found out that if you have 60% of the course work completed at Quincy, you can transfer in the other 40% and get your degree. If I passed all of my classes that year I would be sitting at 60%. I could stay on for the summer, paying my own way of course, and get that number up to 90% and finish the degree the following fall or Mike was open to letting me come back in the same capacity the following year and I could skip the summer work and finish the 40% the next year. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I was always told it never hurts to apply for other opportunities so apply is what I did.
I had made contact with Jennifer Brost at the Ohio Valley Conference in the Nashville, Tennessee area at some point prior. I usually try to keep up with contacts I make because the old adage: "it's not what you know but who you know" may not be 100% accurate, but there is certainly some truth to it. I put out the feelers about what opportunities were available at the OVC and many other conferences for that matter. I was pleasantly surprised with the responses I was getting this time around. I started contacting championship personnel in conference offices directly with a quick run down of who I was, what I've done and what I'd like to do. I found that making these connections was much easier and more rewarding the second time around. Jennifer and I kept up communication for a while and she asked if I would be interested in interviewing for a spring internship with the OVC and I reluctantly passed because even though the MBA wasn't necessarily my top priority, I thought I would have effectively wasted my year if I didn't follow through with completing at least 60% of the coursework. Jenn informed me that they were always looking for interns and they would be looking for a summer intern in the spring if I was interested.
Spring came and with it, the MVC basketball tournament in St. Louis. The experience of finally seeing first hand just how a conference office works coupled with the thrill of a tournament the caliber of the Missouri Valley Conference was an experience I'll remember for a long time. I worked hard that weekend, escorting cheerleaders and dancers from every participating school. I don't mind tellin ya, best job at the tournament. I finally met Doug in person, as well as Drew, the gentleman who had been chosen for the job I was called about. I never let it slip that I was called because, quite frankly, it was totally irrelevant by that time. He was doing a good job as far as I could tell and I started thinking that while that job would have been awesome, I wasn't sure just how ready I would have been to do it as well as he had. I also met the intern they chose instead of me and I have to admit, Bobby Thomas was a great choice. I'm not sure I would have done as great of a job as he had, but the great thing about it is I've learned a thing or two from all every person I've worked with and continue to learn little things that truly make a difference. Bobby and I built up a nice repore and I was pleased to see him become the next Director of Operations for the MVC after Drew left to persue new opportunities.
Spring break at Quincy happened to start the same weekend as the MVC tournament so I took a little vacation after my St. Louis stay to Dallas, Texas to visit some old friends. When I returned to the Mid-West I was ready figure out the next step. I applied for two conference internships that included my recent experience with the MVC. One application went to Brandon Neff at the Southern Conference in South Carolina for the 2009-10 year and the other was to Jenn, who was now going by Jennifer Gibbs after her marriage, at the Ohio Valley Conference for a summer internship. Both interviews went great, a far cry from the terrible interview I had a few months prior. It didn't take Jenn and the OVC long to decide what they wanted to do. After they completed their interviews I received an offer from her to participate in their summer internship. I accepted on what has been one of the happiest days in my life to date. Because the OVC gig was only a summer position and non paid, I waited to hear what happened on the SoCon front since their internship was a year long and paid. Brandon called within a week of the OVC news and informed me that it had come down to me and one other person and they went with the other candidate. No one likes rejection, so I wasn't thrilled to have been beaten out, but I can't begin to describe how excited I was to finally be getting my chance at a division I conference.
Between the busy schedule I kept at school, the run down house with mice, bats, and other fun creatures, the lack of a social outlet, and my general dislike with where I was living, I was thrilled to finally be rewarded with a long awaited opportunity. Things would get worse before they got better. My last class of the year began to spiral out of control. In hindsight I should have been more selective in who I partnered with in class projects and without revealing too many details, suffice it to say there was a problem with our final project which didn't help in a class that I was already struggling in. I only received one D in my entire academic career on any level. It just so happens that one D was in my last MBA class and because I wasn't able to maintain the set requirements, I never got credit for that class and left Quincy in May with only 50% of the required coursework needed to earn my MBA through Quincy.
I'm not sure how I'll go about finishing the degree but I know I'll finish it before the 5 year deadline I had when I started. Whether I take one more class through Quincy and transfer the rest in, or transfer the credits from Quincy to a different institution remains to be seen, but its a degree I set out to earn long ago and I have every intention of doing just that.
That May I moved out of Quincy, Illinois for the second time, excited about what adventures lay ahead. A bit of goodluck came way of a life long friend living in Nashville who permitted me to stay at his place for the duration of the summer internship. The term "brother" is tossed around a lot to describe close friendships and Josh Guinn and I have personified that term since we met in 3rd grade back in Iowa. His support and friendship has been imperative to my success at the OVC. If it weren't for Josh's kindness and support, it's very likely there would not be a part five of this series to discuss, but because he's my boy and all, there is a part five and we'll dive into that and wrap this puppy up tomorrow.
Thanks for checkin in today and I'll hollar at you tomorrow on Fresh 35. As always, tell a friend.
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