Standing in a large conference room at Nationals Park on Wednesday afternoon, H.D. Woodson High School senior Shanti Osborne asked panelists what advice they had for young people hoping to work for a professional sports team.
Osborne largely has her path planned. She’s hoping to attend Ohio State University and get a degree that will help her become a professional sports agent or manager. She’s become familiar with many of the traditional career options — doctors, teachers, firefighters and police officers.
But until the “Career in Sports Day” at Nationals Park, Osborne had been unaware of just how many roles there are to make a team function.
“Not only did it get me a free day out of school, it gave me a way to expand on what I want to do after school and enlighten (me), and drop more information about the different career paths there are,” Osborne said.
The daylong event, featuring students from D.C.’s public and public charter schools, also served as a recruiting event for NatsPrep, a course from D.C. Public Schools’ Academy of Hospitality and Tourism, and organized through a partnership with the Nationals.
Wednesday’s event, though, offered about 150 students exposure to different parts of the game day experience. Through a panel discussion, the students learned what it looks like to transition from high school to college and then on to a professional career.
During a department fair, representatives from the franchise’s front office departments, such as human resources, engaged with students through an activity that helped them understand what their day-to-day jobs look like.
They got to sit in the dugout too, and had conversations about leadership in the press conference room where manager Dave Martinez addresses reporters after home games.
“We’re just here, opening up opportunities to D.C. students, helping them understand that when you go to college, when you go through a certificate program, whatever that looks like for you, that sports and working for your favorite team is also an option, instead of just regular, traditional career paths,” said Ashleigh Hazley, senior director of youth programming with the Nationals.
Evan Weinstein, a senior at Jackson-Reed High School, said exposure to employees in ticketing, operations, community relations and corporate sponsorships helped him “become more aware of the variety of career opportunities within sports.”
He’s hoping to become a team’s general manager or president of operations.
Staff encouraged the students to be open-minded, adding, “just because you’re set or currently in the role of doing something, there’s always room to switch or pursue that end goal that you want to get to,” Weinstein said.
Last year’s event featured 50 students, and Hazley said she’s hoping to double Wednesday’s turnout next spring.
“When I was growing up, I knew that I could be an accountant,” Hazley said. “Didn’t know you could be an accountant for a sports team. Sometimes, we’re limited by what we know.”
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