Summer Internship Spotlight: Kelsey Poppe

Summer break is about more than having fun in the sun. For a number of Simpson student-athletes, the summer months provide an opportunity to prepare for their career. This year, SimpsonAthletics.com is taking a closer look at how eight student-athletes are making the most of their summer.

Kelsey Poppe

Sport: Golf
Hometown: Ionia, Iowa
Class this Fall: Junior
Majors/Minor: Business Management, Psychology/Human Resources
Internship: Administration Intern for the Pricnipal Charity Classic Golf Tournament in Des Moines

What are your primary responsibilities?

I have a variety of responsibilities, including: executing all aspects of the Honorary Observer Program, managing the tournament's volunteer committees (including volunteer scheduling), overseeing Volunteer Headquarters on-site during tournament week (including volunteer meals), managing Principal Charity Classic promotions at local community events prior to the tournament, assisting with the credentialing process for media, volunteers, vendors, support staff, and assist full-time staff.

How does this position help with your career goals?

This position helps with my career goals by allowing me to get job experience in a field where I could someday see myself possibly working. Learning about all the different things that go into managing sporting events before actually entering the workforce will help me become even more prepared for my future career. It is one thing to learn things in class, but applying the things that you have learned to your job is another and this internship helped me discover that.

Did Simpson play a role in helping you get these internships? If so, how?

Simpson has always encouraged students to go out and get experience in their field and with that encouragement I decided to apply for this internship. Also, another student from Simpson actually had this internship a couple years ago and she was the one that gave me the information on the internship and encouraged me to apply.

How has your experience as a student-athlete been helpful in this position?

My experience as a student-athlete at Simpson has been invaluable going into this internship. Being a student-athlete has helped me become more disciplined and organized, which was key to this internship. I started this internship in April, so I had to learn how to balance work, school, and golf all at once. This was challenging, but my experience with balancing golf and school helped prepare me for a busy schedule. Not only has my experience as a student-athlete in general helped me, but specifically participating in golf was very helpful for this internship. Having a good background knowledge of golf and how golf tournaments run was very useful in learning how to help run this golf tournament.

Previous Internship Spotlights

Tanner Jansen, baseball
Ashlee Litterer, cross country and track
RJ Brown, wrestling
Katrina Hartman, volleyball
Taylor Filbert, basketball