For three York University undergraduate students and avid sport and entertainment fans, landing internships with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) is a highlight of their school and early career journey, and one they're not likely to forget. Having an opportunity to connect with athletes and executives from major corporations elevated their internship experience.
York University is the official university partner of the Toronto Raptors which provides students exclusive networking opportunities to explore career paths in this field.
Schulich School of Business students Hanna Mengistu and Afreen Jeelani are wrapping up their summer internships, while Schulich's Nicholas Rebelo is completing a one-year internship with MLSE.
Getting a big picture look at how their studies fit into real-life careers is one of the biggest advantages, say the students.
From left, York University Schulich School of Business students Afreen Jeelani, Hanna Mengistu and Nicholas Rebelo
Jeelani is still deciding what she wants to do as a career in business, but as a huge Raptors fan, she was excited to work with MSLE. "I thought it would be the perfect opportunity," she says. Last summer, she tried a finance internship with TD. "Doing these internships, I'm hoping that I can learn what I love and see what I want to do in the future." So far, working with the Raptors and working in human resources are both at the top for this second-year business administration student. "I'm grateful I'm getting to learn from these internships. I'm definitely enjoying it a lot."
As a human resources operations intern, one of Jeelani's main jobs at MLSE is to help with the transition from one scheduling and recruiting platform to another that incorporates artificial intelligence. This involves rounds of testing and interactions with external vendors and senior professionals at MLSE. She also helps develop courses for staff doing behind-the-scenes work ahead of concerts at Scotiabank Arena, such as how to build stages and which safety issues to consider.
A highlight for Jeelani has been the opportunity to help with events featuring players. For Rebelo, his time with MLSE has spanned one year with positions as a partnership marketing intern focusing on Raptors partnerships such as IBM and Google, a game day coordinator role and a franchise and basketball operations internship with the Raptors 905.
"The game day coordinator position was really dynamic," says Rebelo, "I had the opportunity to work game days with the Raptors, which was completely different from my initial term in partnership marketing." It involved pre- and post-game set-up on the court or in the arena, as well as hosting duties where he met the CEOs of technology company IBM and electronics company LG.
A couple of highlights for his experience included running a clinic with Canadian professional basketball player Kia Nurse and having the opportunity to compete outside of his internship in the Raptors Uprising esports gaming tournament. Rebelo competed against other university players in the NBA 2K League, something that came about because of his internship and interest in esports.
As a franchise and basketball operations intern, Rebelo works under the Toronto Raptors 905 leadership team. "One of the really interesting things that I'm working on right now is the construction of our new practice facility and locker rooms, which ranges from discussions on partner integration all the way to putting on a hard hat for a site visit," he says. He's part of the team finding and negotiating with potential venues in different cities for future Raptors 905 games, investigating different ticketing software and partnerships with local schools, and generating ideas for consumer incentives.
All three interns expressed gratitude for the trust and responsibility they were given, which exponentially increased their learning experiences.
"It's really important for your manager to trust you to actually do real work. MLSE does a really good job with their interns of letting them experience a lot of different things," says Mengistu, who is going into her fourth year at York in the BBA program specializing in finance and marketing. Her work as an intern encompasses two MLSE departments - financial planning and analysis, and treasury - where she contributed to fiscal year-end, as well as tracking and analyzing variances between forecasted amounts in budgets and actual amounts spent for some 50 different departments.
For the treasury department, she supports the organization of the company's CAD/USD daily cash flow, a system she is helping to remake to ensure the tracking process is more efficient.
"If you asked what my dream internship is, this would be it. I really want to work in sports and finance. Finance, auditing and treasury might not be the flashiest positions but it's really, cool to work with numbers on things that you like, such as teams you like," says Mengistu, a life-long sports fan and player (basketball, soccer and ringette) who moved from Ottawa to attend York. She first learned about MSLE internships during a Schulich recruiting fair.
"I think the coolest moment I had was helping out as a volunteer at The Canadian Shield, a tournament run by MLSE." Four top men's teams - Canada, Ukraine, Côte D'Ivoire, and New Zealand - played. "I got to go on the field with the photographers and take pictures, and I got to watch the penalty kicks from the field." Another highlight, says Mengistu, is getting to shadow a live marketing team for a concert of either Katy Perry or Tate McRae.
Their advice to other students? Network, have coffee chats, let people know what you're interested in, build connections and be persistent.
For Jeelani, Rebelo and Mengistu their internship experiences have expanded their horizons in unexpected and wonderful ways.
