The intern summarized their internship experience working in communications and marketing for CWU Athletics. They surveyed track athletes to collect biographical information for online profiles, took photos of track meets for articles, and started an Instagram account for the track team. The intern gained experience in photography, social media, and surveying but wished for more public relations work. They received creative freedom with the Instagram which grew to 200 followers. Overall, it was a valuable learning experience despite challenges getting all athletes to complete surveys.

1. JonathanOsborne
Internship:Final Report
CWU Athletics
TheOrganization
Mission Statement:
“The Central Washington University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics supports the
University’s mission by providing co-curricular opportunities for student-athletes to achieve at
the highest levels of NCAA Division II athletics. We empower student-athletes in their
development of life skills that assist themin earning a degree and leading productive lives.
Committed to a positive student-athlete experience, through our winning culture we are guided
by the principles of integrity, excellence, family, diversity and inclusion, leadership, and service.
We promote school spirit and pride by creating shared experiences that unite the Wildcat
Community.”
CWU Athletics is home to 13 varsity sports programs at the NCAA Division II level. This athletic
department has over 63 employees including administration, coaches, and athletic trainers.
With such a large staff, everyone has a large variation of duties all dedicated to making Central
Washington University’s athletic program, and all involved, thrive. In charge of the entire
department is Athletic Director, Dr. Dennis Francois.
I did my internship within the communication/marketing and promotion departments of CWU
Athletics. This group consisted of Director of Athletic Communications Sammy Henderson,
Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Caleb Dunlop, External Affairs and Corporate
Sponsor Graduate Assistant Claire Cox, and Graduate Assistant Max Bayern. These departments

2. are in charge of media relations, website management, statistics, and social media for the
athletic department.
In my unit, I reported directly to Sammy Henderson and Caleb Dunlop.
Sammy Henderson- Mr. Henderson graduated from CWU in 2010 with a B.S in public relations.
He then returned to CWU and got his M.A in Athletic Administration in 2012. After getting his
master’s, Mr. Henderson became the athletic director of the Thorp school district for the next
two years. Following his time as an athletic director, Mr. Henderson came into his current
position at CWU in December 2013 as director of athletic communications.
Caleb Dunlop- Mr. Dunlop graduated from Coker State (S.C.) in with a B.A in Communications.
After graduation, Mr. Dunlop worked at Dickinson State University (N.D.) “where he was the
Sports Marketing and Information Director. While at DSU Dunlop was in charge of media
relations, website management, statistics, and creating publications for the athletic
department. He was the main contact for all 15 Dickinson State varsity athletic and club
programs. He oversaw the design and implementation of the Blue Hawks' website under
PrestoSports and revamped social media usage in Dickinson State athletics.”
(wildcatsports.com)
My Work
While interning at CWU Athletics, my work consisted of surveying, social media, and
photography for the CWU Track and Field team.

3. Surveying:
My first and foremost task for my internship was to collect data from anyone returning to the
team next year regarding biographical information. This included next year’s sophomores,
juniors, and seniors on the team. The questionnaire asked the athletes three questions:
1. What accomplishments or school records do you have? (High School or College)
2. Athletic Awards? (High School or College)
3. Academic Awards? (High School or College)
Next year, the athlete’s responses will be added to their roster information on the
wildcatsports.com website along with their photo, height, weight, and track event. These
accolades will help give the track team a more personal feel to everyone outside of the team
itself.
I used four different tactics to reach as many of the athletes on the team as possible. I posted
the file to our Facebook group to allow for them to type it up and print the questionnaire off at
will. Tactic number two I used was printing the surveys off myself and pinning them to our track
board inside the Nicolson Pavilion to allow them to grab one and fill it out either on the to, or
leaving the practice facility. The third tactic I attempted was to print the questionnaire out in
groups and give them to each event group coach to give to their set of athletes. The last tactic I
tried was guerilla surveying where I simply printed out the questionnaire and handed out to

4. anyone on the team I saw in meetings or at practice. In all, I collected about 40 questionnaires
from the athletes.
Photography:
For the second duty of my internship, I was asked to be the team photographer for the track
and field team at all of our away meets. My only real responsibility was to do my best to take
quality action shots, candids, and best moments of the meets with the camera and memory
card provided to me. To best achieve this, I would try to get a photo of every CWU athlete in
their event at the meet that I could. This was somewhat difficult due to the fact that I was a
competing athlete myself.
My weekly routine for photography followed five simple steps:
1. Meet with Mr. Henderson or Mr. Dobson to pick up the camera and memory card from
their office on Fridays after practice
2. Charge battery if necessary
3. Take photos of CWU athletes at the meet on Saturdays
4. Return camera and memory card to Mr. Henderson or Mr. Dobson on Mondays for
uploading
5. Photos were then used to for online articles
Social Media:
Another project I added on to my internship, with Mr. Henderson’s permission, was to create
an Instagram account for the CWU track team. The team already has a strong following on
twitter with 400 followers and nearly one-thousand tweets. The twitter account has been

5. around for a few years and is primary used for quick reminders of things for the athlete’s use
and to update the public on statistics and notable state of affairs involving the team.
My thought process behind the Instagram was simply to use another outlet for the photos I was
already taking. The CWU track team has never had a photographer travel with the team. This
means that there was never any photo coverage of the team for 11 weeks of the indoor and
outdoor season. Within this one quarter, I have managed to gain 200 followers with only 30
Instagram post from scratch. I began by using almost daily hashtags to generate purpose for the
content and a reason to check back every day.
Hashtags:
#MondayMotivation- Inspire athletes in the classroomand on the track
#HumpDay- Leaping over the hump of the week day (Wednesdays) featuring a jumper
#TBT- Throwback to something happening this week in the past on Thursdays
Friday- Meet preview
Saturday- Meet day motivation post
Sunday- Meet recap
@CWU_Track
Evaluation:
The two, most successful parts of my internship at CWU Athletics was the photography and the
Instagram aspects. The reason behind this is because I was given the chance to start something

6. brand new not once, but twice. Starting a social media account from scratch and watching it
become a page that 20 people were interested in was great. Even more accomplishing was the
fact that all the photos and content were my own ideas. Mr. Henderson allowed me to have
total creative freedom with the Instagram page. This helped the page content be more flexible
and up-to-date with events going on involving the CWU track and field team.
This internship had a lot of positives and a few negatives involved within it.
Positives:
I was given the chance to try something new with this internship. Photography was something I
have always been interested in but never had a chance to do. It is a great feeling to see my
teammates be so appreciative of the photos of them. It was also a great way to spread in even
more awareness to the track team because it let all the athletes post photos of themselves on
their own social media pages and tag the new team Instagram with the hashtag #cwutrack.
Negatives:
While I did have a good time being involved in the CWU Athletics internship, I felt as though
there was not enough work specific to public relations. While photography and surveying are
great skills to have, I was looking forward to communicating with the media and planning
events and promotions.
I did run into trouble with the questionnairing. I did not reach the percentage of the team I was
aiming for. It was difficult getting everyone to comply and take the time to fill it out. If I were to
do this again, I think the most effective tactic was giving the questionnaires to each coach and
having them distribute them to their group of athletes.

7. In all, my time interning with CWU Athletics was an invaluable learning experience. My work
consisted of surveying, social media, and photography for the CWU Track and Field team. In my
time there, I used guerilla tactics to account the accolades of individuals on the team, took
photos of the athletes competing for online articles, and use those photos as content for the
CWU track and field Instagram page.