Stores stock up for Mothers’ Weekend run

by Allison Walker WAL04015@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

BYU-Idaho students are provided with a wide range of internships. Most don’t realize just how wide that range is.

Michael Jacobson, a senior from Swan Valley, Idaho, completed an internship with the Oakland Raiders professional football team this January.

His internship with the Raiders began in May, before the NFL preseason, and continued through the regular season.

As an intern with the Raiders, Jacobson worked four days a week, plus eight home games. “I’m going to admit, though, working for an NFL team like this is not as glamorous as it sounds,” Jacobson said.
“There is a lot of hard work involved. We can go for 14- plus hours a day before games. There is always something to do.”

On game days he was usually in the press box helping the media relations staff, getting quotes and statistics from players to the media. That doesn’t mean he was stuck in the press box the whole time. “I was everywhere in that stadium. You could find me on the field, in the stands, as well as in the press box,” Jacobson said.

During the week, Jacobson worked in Business and Community Affairs. He met with reporters, businesspeople and sponsors.

He also helped with community involvement, helped organize player appearances at junior Gatorade camps, Cub Scout pack meetings and hospitals.

Jacobson said his favorite players were the rookies. “They were more willing to go into the community, and the fame hadn’t gotten to their heads,” he said.

He also got to know Doug Jolley, a former BYU Cougar who was drafted by the Raiders two years ago.

The most difficult thing about his internship was the competitive atmosphere. Jacobson had a number of leadership positions in school, such as director of the hockey program at BYU-Idaho, “but in Oakland it wasn’t college anymore. It was the real thing,” Jacobson said.

“It was an eye-opener. There were 20 interns, all from different colleges, all working hard to show they belonged. There was a lot of pressure to perform well.”

“I felt I was prepared for my internship as much as I could be at that point in my life,” Jacobson said. “I had never done anything like that but I had worked a lot here at BYU-I in Athletics, so I had a feel for what went on.”

Jacobson gave some advice for students trying to choose an internship.

“Students need to determine the kind of lifestyle they want to have in five years. You have to go big if you want to go big. You have to do something that shows you have the desire and the experience,” he said.

Students need to look for internships that can help them land the kind of full-time work they are seeking.

“I applied for this internship because I knew that it was a unique internship and a good location,” Jacobson said. “I made contacts with lots of people in the Bay Area that will afford me opportunities in the future if I need them.”