Sports studies students volunteer at Super Bowl

ECU junior Mackenzie Hudson knows what she wants to do once she graduates after being part of a group of 10 College of Health and Human Performance students who volunteered at the Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, as part of a sports studies class. 

“I think this solidified, for all of us, that we do want to work in sports,” Hudson said a few days later in the kinesiology department’s Super Bowl LVII event management class, supported by funding from the Office of Research, Economic Development and Engagement. 

Professor Stacy Warner, teaching instructor Andrea Buenano and Mack Craven, HHP’s director of outreach, accompanied the students to Arizona. At the game, they worked with fans in the upper concourse: pointing them to their seats, helping at escalators, locating bathrooms and concessions, monitoring traffic and congestion areas, and being available for questions.

Students bonded during the long hours. “I hadn’t had an experience where in such a short amount of time I got that close to this many people, which includes the professionals at ECU,” said Molly King, a senior. “I only knew one person who was going to be in the class, but I don’t think there was any way for us to get as close as we did other than having those long days together.”

“We were just volunteers and we weren’t trained for weeks or months on how to do these jobs, but we knew what we were doing,” said Markayla McInnis, a senior. “That was very cool, and we were able to get molded into that in just a short amount of time. It made the whole event management process that we are learning about seem feasible.”

-Ronnie Woodward