Intern Feature: Connor Walker

For my internship I worked on various projects for the American Street Hockey Institute, otherwise known as ASHI. ASHI is the governing body for street hockey in the United States and I have been conducting research as well as working on some other projects for them. I have researched and updated their database on street and ball hockey leagues in the United States. Also, since they are a non-profit organization I have had to research potential donors for the institute. Another project I am beginning to work on is a youth development model for ball hockey in the United States. Finally, I am beginning to plan the USA Ball Hockey teams trip to Pardubice, Czech Republic for the World Ball Hockey Championship this coming June with the hopes of attending the tournament with them.

HOW DID YOU FIND THIS OPPORTUNITY?

How I got this position was by networking with close friends. A former UMass Club Hockey teammate and now current coach works with ASHI and he asked if I would like to be a part of it. Luckily, there wasn’t much of an application process and I was able to join their team over winter break to begin my work.

WHAT HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE BEEN LIKE AND WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?

While my experience with them is not yet over I have still had some valuable learning experiences. Most of my work for ASHI has been done remotely. This experience has shown me the importance of written communication skills since the main form of communication within the organization is through email. Being able to get your point across in an effective and easy to understand manner is essential. Also, the remote nature of the work has helped me budget my time and to be responsible enough to complete tasks on my own. There isn’t someone watching me every step of the way to make sure the work gets done.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR OTHER STUDENTS?

Some advice I would give to students seeking an internship is to try and network as much as possible. I never would have thought that my hockey coach would help me land an internship. For that reason I will never count anyone out on who may help me in the future. Another piece of advice is to put as much effort as possible into your internship. You only get out what you put in, so for that reason give it your all everyday! Finally, keep an open mind about the tasks you will be asked to complete. Not everything you do will be interesting or relevant to what you want to do in the future. For me, this experience has been great in helping me steer what I want to do as a career when I graduate. Surprisingly, what I want to see in my career path has changed significantly from before I started the internship to right now.