Bucknell University Athletics
There is No Off-Season for the Student-Athlete: A Bucknell Volleyball Summer Experience
8/25/2008 8:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 25, 2008
Throughout the summer, members of the Bucknell volleyball squad will be checking in and sharing the various educational endeavors they are pursuing while away from Lewisburg. Here is the third installment, courtesy of senior English/history major Shannon Pitsch.
For previous installments, follow the below link:
Shannon Pitsch's article from marthastewart.com
Even though I am entering my senior year at Bucknell, the support and love that pervades the Bucknell community never ceases to amaze me. Over the course of the past three years, I have been incredibly fortunate to find professors that helped foster my academic curiosity far beyond the classroom. On the court, I am surrounded by a family of coaches and teammates that inspire me to work hard and reach my athletic potential every day of the year. No matter what I am doing in Lewisburg, there are always people who have a personal commitment to the success of our athletes and students. What I began to realize this past spring and summer it that the Bucknell community around the country is equally invested in the success and reputation of this university and its' student body. Thanks to an amazing Bucknell alumnus, I was able to spend my summer in Manhattan with an internship at Martha Stewart Living.
The Martha Stewart Corporation is divided into several branches including the magazines, the television shows, and the product lines. My internship was on the Web site as an intern to the Food Editor. As an athlete who loves to cook and eat, I could not have been more excited when I found out my position. At the same time, looking at tempting desserts all day long and working in the same office as the test kitchens (free cake was a regular occurrence) can be rough when you know you are returning to spandex and (strength and conditioning coach) Jerry Shreck's intense plyometric circuits in just a few months. Nevertheless, my experience at Martha Stewart was an incredible introduction into web-publishing and editing.
For the last three years at Bucknell, I have been a sports writer for the Bucknellian and have contributed articles to the athletics Web site, but I had never been able to completely immerse myself into the industry. My boss, Regan, was responsible for all of the programming, production, and content for the food and entertaining pages on the website. As her intern, I got to make photo galleries, research holiday menus from the magazines, write and edit recipes, and even write a blog post about burgers for the Dinner Tonight food blog. Regan was an incredible mentor because she gave me tremendous creative freedom during the initial production of articles and photo galleries, and then helped me to edit them so I could learn how to best communicate to the audience.
The internship was an incredible experience and living in a vibrant high-energy city like Manhattan certainly made for a memorable summer. But what separated me from the rest of the pack was that just seven days after my internship was complete I had to return to Bucknell for preseason practice. So on a typical day I was in the gym by 6:30 a.m., doing summer workouts and focusing on getting in the best shape possible for my team. Those early mornings were not always fun, but I knew they would pay off come August. Now, I am back at Bucknell after accomplishing one life goal (working for Martha Stewart) and ready to tackle my next (winning a Patriot League Championship!).
