Each season, the Athletic Communications Office uses talented, hard-working and passionate students to help boost the coverage of the Hawks' 16 varsity programs, while pushing the Hawks Athletic Department brand as a whole. Students from a variety of majors: journalism, graphic design, marketing, digital media management, digital media production, public relations ect. or students who are just curious to learn more about all the nuances of the Athletic Communications office, have the opportunity to enhance their writing, video editing, graphic design, photography and social media skills through either a volunteer or credit-based internship.
The Athletic Communications Office hopes through an internship within their office, whether volunteer or credited, students can hone their skills, build their resume and add clips to their portfolio, while gaining more experience in their respective fields to help better prepare them for when they apply for career opportunities after they graduate. Students are assigned individual and team projects to work on throughout the year and are expected to complete their assignments on deadline to be posted on the nphawks.com website and social media channels (Youtube, X, Instagram, Meta and TikTok).
If you are interested in learning more about opportunities within the Athletic Communications Office, contact Senior Director of Athletic Communications, Marketing and Social Media Monica D'Ippolito at
dippolim@newpaltz.edu.
To apply for an internship with the Athletic Communications Office,
click here.
Former Athletic Communication Interns:
Thomas Hetherington '23 (Digital Media)
"Working with the New Paltz Athletics Department under Monica will always be a valued experience in my life. When I was first scouting for internships, I had heard about the opportunity to both film and edit the highlights of the games. As someone who was not too into sports, I decided to broaden my horizons and give it a try. Starting with Monica, she was a great supervisor that was not afraid to give you advice and criticism if needed, but would also compliment and promote the strong points of your work. She led me to enhance both my shooting and editing skills, to the point that sending her quality products became the norm. Under her guidance I was able to experience a quality internship that both pushed me and enhanced my skills for my other classes.
When it came to filming and editing games, it was quite exciting to be catching great plays on the camera and ensuring that quality highlights would come about. You will have to be able to both know your strengths, while also being able to adapt to different games when it came to shooting. But with Monica's guidance even those with little experience will go a long way. Then when in the editing room, you will learn your own tricks as to create both fast-moving and engaging highlights for the games. There were times that even in games lost the highlights themselves could feel more thrilling than games won if the story was there.
I would say that the both best and most challenging time with the internship was working on the documentary Sam Moran: A Walking Miracle. The documentary detailed the story of Sam Moran, a field hockey player who overcame illness in a way no one would have thought, and got back on the filed still playing during the time of writing this. This documentary proved to be a great exercise in everything I had learned through the internship. And through many hours and many cuts, we were able to create a quality product that will hopefully be a mainstay within the department.
I would like to encourage anyone be it athletes and sports fans, to those wanting to broaden their horizons to work for the department and for Monica."
Camilla Jensen '23 (Marketing)
"I have learned many valuable skill sets during my Athletic Communications internship, that has allowed me to feel more prepared to enter the workforce or acquire another internship. My everyday activities have taught me the importance of social media promotion and marketing strategies. For example, it has taught me how to boost engagement through all social platforms, learn new online tools such as Bitly Link, Poll Maker, and Gipper, and how to manage content for multiple social media platforms. Through these activities, I have learned how to develop strategies to increase views, create engaging posts, and how to build a loyal connection with our sports teams and their fans.
Within this internship I have encountered many valuable experiences. One of the most notable experiences has been understanding the importance of attention to detail and consistency. Even though the main portion of my internship deals with social media including graphics, videos, and brand marketing, a large portion of my time is spent on written communication. Through my experience of writing website articles every week, it has shown me that the smallest error can make a drastic change regarding the performance of our posts. Understanding this has taught me the importance of double checking, which will be an extremely valuable skill set to have while entering into the workforce.
The amount of information and skills I have accrued from this internship has been priceless and has truly taught me so much about the communications field. I am very thankful to have experienced this opportunity and believe the skills, lessons, and experiences I have gained will prepare me for my future. I would recommend this internship to anyone out there who is passionate in social media, communication, and who is eager to grow the amazing social media communications team we have here at SUNY New Paltz."
Paige Niemeyer '20 (Marketing)
"I got so much out of my experience with the SUNY New Paltz Athletics Department. I was given the opportunity to try out the different aspects of sports marketing, allowing me to apply what I was learning in class to real world situations. I also learned so many new skills and techniques that can help enhance my work in the future. I really enjoyed working with a group of people that loved sports as much as I do and having an energetic atmosphere to work in each day. I felt as though my work and opinions were valued and It was exciting to see my projects on the social media platforms and website. It was very cool to hear my friends and teammates praising the work I was doing with Monica, making me feel as though I was making a difference in the Athletics Department.
One of my favorite parts was that I got the chance to bond with a really great group of people including the members of the athletics department staff and the coaches. The whole department made me feel welcome and like I was part of the New Paltz family. I graduated New Paltz in 2020 with a degree in marketing and am now attending graduate school at UAlbany. I am able to transfer a lot of what I learned during the internship to the classes I am currently taking, specifically the analytics side of business. Monica taught me a lot about how to track your progress and page popularity using different business analytics tools. Most, if not all companies, rely on data/performance analytics to help them better compete with other organizations and to create structure throughout their business. I feel as though the internship opportunity has given me an advantage not only in my classes at UAlbany, but in any future endeavors. The experience I had in the athletics department at SUNY New Paltz has pushed me to continue to work in athletics and to pursue a career in Sports/Entertainment Marketing."
Sarah Swift '20 (Digital Media Management)
"My time working in the Athletic Communications Office at SUNY New Paltz was the best hands-on experience I had during my undergraduate years. I was able to explore my interests, push my limits, and learn new things that will help me throughout my career. I learned skills in graphic design, video editing, writing for sports coverage, photography and social media coverage among many others. When applying for opportunities after graduation I stood out because of my experience, and after working in this field I thank the strong foundation I built at New Paltz for the confidence it gave me to build my skills and continue learning as a I continue my professional career."
Tim McElrath '19 (Digital Media Production)
"Interning with Monica and SUNY New Paltz Athletics was a great experience for me, and helped me get my first taste of what it's like working in the sports media industry. I've always wanted to work in the sports media industry, and once I got the internship opportunity it was a no-brainer for me.
As interns we learned to work as a team to produce content for the Youtube and various social media platforms, just like you would with a job in sports media. Before the internship I was mainly doing audio work, but the internship gave me the opportunity to enhance my editing and camera skills, as each of us were assigned solo projects along with the content we produced as a team. I would highly recommend interning with Monica and SUNY New Paltz Athletics if you are interested in working in the sports media industry, especially if you don't want to travel far for your internship. Every meeting and all the resources needed are at the school, and that was prefect for me."
Bryan Labas '19 (Digital Media Production)
"I spent two semesters working for Monica at the Athletic Communications office during my senior year and it was one of the best decisions I made while attending SUNY New Paltz. As someone who wanted to work in the sports media industry, working with Monica gave me insight to a career path that was not offered in my majors curriculum. As a former digital media production major, our classes focused more on learning the raw skill set that comes a long with video production but not how to apply those skills into a professional work environment. For me personally that was the biggest takeaway from my internship. Creating content for the schools social media pages gave me a chance to refine my skills, which came a long way in the one year under Monica, but more importantly the experience gained in office setting really helped me after I had graduated.
In the fall following graduation, I had a position as a video editor for a start up company that created sports media content for high school athletes. My experience at the athletic communications office perfectly aligned with my assignments of my first job which allowed me to enter the workforce with confidence that was not given from my majors curriculum. Learning how to properly communicate, plan, discuss and problem solve different teams and tasks in an workplace style setting paid dividends and I owe a lot of that to my internship with Monica."
Luke Barnell '20 (Graphic Design)
"Working with New Paltz Athletics allowed me to work in a fast project based environment with a lot of flexibility in my schedule. I was able to experiment with a lot of different visuals and ideas because of how much creative freedom I was given. It helped me really grow as a designer and I ended up producing some work that I'm really proud of and has led to a lot of opportunities beyond college for me."
Ishmael Brown '18 (Digital Media Production)
"Being in Monica's office, there was a perfect balance of freedom/guidance. There was enough freedom for projects where I felt like I got to fully exercise my creativity and challenge myself to come up with ways to accomplish each goal. There was enough guidance where, although I've had that freedom, that I've never once felt lost or unsupported. It was a very welcoming environment where everyone was open to hearing my ideas/input, eager to help if necessary, and willing to offer very constructive criticism to make the next project even better than the last. I honestly felt that every single person within that office had my back and would pick me up had I ever fell down.
Because I had the responsibility for creating projects from the planning stage, to the filming, and then the editing stage, I was able to gain a deep understanding of all aspects of each process of production - in fact, I've learned more during this several month internship than I have in my major classes or any other internship I've had throughout my 4 years of undergrad."
This holistic understanding of media production that I gained from this internship is largely responsible for my trajectory post-grad. Because I was able to work extensively in each part of production, I was able to figure out which part of production I liked the most, which was very helpful for me pursuing a career path. That career path turned out to be post-production - after graduation, I've had some post-production gigs such as being a Post Production Assistant for Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show on Amazon Prime and acting as a visual effects researcher for HBO's The Plot Against America."
Alberto Ariza '21 (Communication Studies)
"Working at the Sports Information Office as the Athletic Communications Student Assistant to Monica has taught me to take risks and be open minded. Completing office hours has helped me strengthen my time management skills. This position has let me express my ideas to help promote our athletics programs better. These are just a few of the benefits I've gained from my experience here that will be helpful for any career I decide to choose."
James O'Neil '19 (Journalism/Public Relations)
"My experience as an intern for SUNY New Paltz's Athletic Communications Department prepared me immensely for the professional world after college. Working on a deadline for every assignment sharpened my time management skills, while coordinating interviews with coaches and players improved my ability to adapt to schedules through email, phone call or in-person. I would highly suggest this internship to anyone looking to gain the essential skills needed to succeed in the communications field."
