My name is Harper Snead. I am a junior at Iowa State, studying public relations and communication studies. In March of 2023, I was fortunate enough to volunteer at the March Madness Midwest Regional Tournament during the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds in Kansas City, Missouri.
I currently have an internship with the Iowa State Athletics Communication Department where I am assigned similar tasks to the ones I performed at March Madness. At my internship I typically only work with other ISU students and employees.
This tournament provided a different experience than my internship. I got to work with other student volunteers from the University of Kansas, adult volunteers who have extensive backgrounds in sports communication, employees from NCAA and Division I basketball players from around the U.S.
We worked around 25 hours within the four days we were at the tournament. My different duties included quote transcribing, stat distribution and breakout room moderator.
Quote transcribing was something new to me. I was able to go into the locker rooms with the players from the University of Miami, the University of Houston and the University of Texas.
I recorded media professionals asking players questions. Following the allotted time in the locker room, I listened to my recording and transcribed the quotes for other media professionals to use when writing their tournament stories.
This volunteer opportunity provided me another look into the world of collegiate sports and all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the production of games. I found out about this position through my internship at the Iowa State Athletics Communication Department. Opportunities like this can also be found by looking at websites about specific sporting events. I am very appreciative of this opportunity granted by NCAA and would recommend it to anyone.