Josie Jacobson has fond memories of her days on the softball field: the dirt, the dugouts, the fans, the camaraderie.
So when the sports management major from Grand Island learned from her professor that the Iowa Cubs was hiring interns, she was quick to apply and return to the familiarity of the ballpark.
"Growing up, softball was a big passion of mine—the majority of my summers growing up were spent at the ballpark," Jacobson said. "I thought going to work every day at a ballpark would be ideal.”
"When this opportunity came up I applied thinking it was out of my league only to be surprised by getting an interview and soon, a job," she added.
Last spring Jacobson began her internship as a stadium operations and game day operations intern for the Iowa Cubs, a Triple-A minor league baseball team located in Des Moines, Iowa, that is affiliated with the Chicago Cubs.
As part of the operations team, Jacobson's work covers a lot of bases from marketing to stadium maintenance to customer relations to custodial work. She works behind the scenes to ensure Principal Park looks its best for game day. Without the efforts of the operations team, Jacobson said, game days couldn't run nearly as smooth—or happen at all.
Much of her work involves nitty gritty tasks like using blowers to blow away sunflower seeds and peanut shells or washing stadium seats, but for Jacobson, tasks of all kinds are worth the sweet reward of simply spending time on the baseball field and making new friends.
"The people that I work with everyday have become my best friends this past summer," Jacobson said. "Some weeks we work 60 hours and still end up hanging out with each other afterwards. The culture of this department also makes it so enjoyable; we can also joke around with one another and our bosses but still get the work done."
On August 16th, Jacobson will leave the familiarity of the baseball field and return to campus to begin her junior year but not before exchanging contact information with those she’s worked with and for in hopes that a future career involves stadium operations at a ballpark.
"I like the fact that every day I can do something new or learn something new," Jacobson said. "Work can sometimes feel like a workout and I like that."