As marketing interns, Hawken students score primo skills

For the past month and a half, a group of Hawken students have been interns in a program that most students have to wait until college to experience. The internship, a partnership of Hawken`s Pathways Program and the Cleveland Cavaliers, has provided over 30 Upper School students the opportunity to learn and develop sports marketing skills as they to host two intern project basketball games in February - the first a women`s game on February 7 that will honor alumnae athletes in conjunction with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and the second a men`s match up versus rival University School on February 13. For both games, teams of students, mentored by Cavs professionals and sports marketing experts, have been working on ticket sales, corporate sponsorship sales, game operations-three of the most important aspects of sports marketing and promotion. "I think they`ve been making tremendous progress," said Buffy Filippell, a program mentor and Hawken parent. The students have reached nearly half of their projected ticket sales goal for one game and, for both games, have earned almost $2,000 in sponsorship and ticket sales. Filippell noted that the interns, in working with seasoned sports professionals, are getting access to closely guarded information the public hardly ever sees. "They`re learning what it really takes [to promote and host a basketball game]," she said. The students will soon get an up-close look at game operations as well as talk with Cavs marketing and sales executive when they travel to Quicken Loans arena. Because the two basketball games are the culminating projects of the internship, admission will be charged for a limited number of tickets. If you haven`t yet heard from the ticket sales team, please contact Mike Scott at 08scomic@hawken.edu to secure your tickets. Please copy Buffy Filippell at buffy@teamworkonline.com in your e-mail.