New to BSM this year, the hockey internship program allows students to experience what it’s like to work with a team. These students are selected for their specific skills and will be spending the hockey season doing many things such as creating the media guide and interacting with sponsors.

Captain mom Laura Giertsen started this program back in April when the previous design team quit and she realized there was no one else to do this job. She came to the school last spring with the idea of having the students run the media guide, unlike what had been done in previous years. To join this program, the students had to fill out a quick survey. From there, 20 were chosen to be interviewed which led to the decision of who would be a part of the final team. “We interviewed probably about 20 people for this. And we started those in April and then picked the team in May. We had our first meeting before school ended and then started again in August,” Giertsen said.

The students on this team all have their own individual jobs. While some are a part of the creative team, others are working on more the business side. Senior Audrey Peterson’s job is to link and oversee what both the creative and business sides are doing. “I connect them so, for example, I take ads and give them to the design people, and then I’ll do a lot of the scheduling and other things that need to get done,” Peterson said.

Both Giertsen and Peterson agree that this is a great opportunity for the students at BSM. It gives students internship and real world experience while still in high school. It also provides valuable lessons on how to work with a team of people with different personalities or opinions than oneself. “I think the most important thing I’ve learned for the real world is how to work with people who have completely different personalities and completely different mindsets from me,” Peterson said.

This internship isn’t a walk in the park. Giertsen expects a lot from these students. The hockey media guide will be sent out to around 700 people so the students must put their best effort into it and be happy with the work they have done. “I expect that they are self starters, I expect that they’re leaving and communicating with each other. They kind of have to take it and run and so far they have really been doing a great job of that,” Giertsen said.

While Giertsen won’t be running this program next season, she hopes that one of next year’s captain parents or the school administration will continue it. “I think it’s a great opportunity. I think there’s a great opportunity for the school to grow in this and even have sports marketing interns. There’s just so much that these captain parents do that students can do. You guys are all super talented and super creative so I think it’s really good for students’ growth,” Giertsen said.