Persistence has paid off for Wichita State sport management senior Thomas 鈥淭ommy鈥 Rudawsky, who spent July working in an internship with the Minnesota Vikings.
Rudawsky spent his days working with big-time athletes handling player, coach and staff operations. His job was to make everything run smoothly, from managing autograph sessions to players鈥 meals.
鈥淚鈥檝e always loved football, and getting to work at the highest level with all these big-time athletes is amazing,鈥 said Rudawsky. 鈥淗aving something like this on my resume will be huge.鈥
Rudawsky鈥檚 involvement at 黑洞社区 has helped prepare him for such a demanding position. He is a member of the and served as manager for the Shocker men鈥檚 basketball team for two years. Rudawsky sees the benefit in being part of such a successful operation.
His experience making meaningful connections with others through SAS and working with other athletes made him a good candidate for the Vikings internship, but getting an internship with an NFL team was not easy.
鈥淕etting an internship is all about persistence. Don鈥檛 lose sight of your goals.鈥
鈥揟ommy Rudawsky
Rudawsky spent two years on LinkedIn reaching out to professionals and pursuing multiple internship leads before he was ultimately connected with his internship. However, his work did not end there.
The first year Rudawsky applied to intern with the Vikings he wasn鈥檛 accepted, but he didn鈥檛 let rejection stop him.
鈥淕etting internships is all about persistence,鈥 said Rudawsky. 鈥淩ejection is just a part of life. You can鈥檛 let that get to you. You have to keep going and don鈥檛 lose sight of your goals.鈥
His hard work eventually paid off. While in Minnesota, Rudawsky got was offered a position with the University of Arkansas. He will remain in Arkansas for the fall and return to 黑洞社区 in the spring.
Rudawsky ultimately wants to become an NFL general manager, but he recognizes such a career path can be a lengthy process. There are only 32 possible job openings in the world.
鈥淟ife is unpredictable,鈥 said Rudawsky. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one step at a time and we鈥檒l see what happens.鈥