Content Creator & Photographer
Aug 2022 - May 2023
During my senior year at Simpson College, I worked closely with the Director of Athletic Communications as a Content Creator. The responsibilities of my role included creating video content, both short and long form, photographing events and editing, creating graphics to be displayed on the video board, as well as other small projects.
With this position, my goal was to educate the community on what Simpson Athletics offers with engaging content. Through my projects, I was able to educate and excite the public on what Simpson Athletics was up to.
Rewriting the Narrative
Check out one of my most recent projects!
Written, filmed, directed, and edited by yours truly, this is a short documentary that covers the inspiring story of one of the first new men’s gymnastics teams in over 60 years.
Men’s gymnastics, specifically at the collegiate level, has been dying for decades until recently. With Simpson College and Greenville University adding teams, they have started to inspire other colleges to start the process and give hope to the gymnastics community.
Keep It Classy!
One of my first projects with Simpson Athletics was creating a video to be displayed before each game on the video board to educate the spectators on the ARC rules and regulations and what constitutes sportsmanship-like conduct.
Pose for the Camera
One of my responsibilities was assisting the Director of Athletic Communications with media day pictures to be used in graphics, social media, and other smaller projects. I was responsible for all “pose” photos, including photographing, editing, and retouching if necessary. Overall, I captured 10 different teams' media photos.
Home Turf
Another one of my projects was highlighting the highly anticipated turf renovation for both the baseball and softball fields. They were posted across social media accounts and featured on the Simpson Athletics website to showcase their facilities.
American Junior Golf Association
Communications Intern
2022 Summer
During the summer of 2022, I spent three months traveling across the Southeast region of the United States for the American Junior Golf Association, helping run the communication efforts for 13 tournaments.
The responsibilities of my role included creating social media content for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, photographing the AJGA players, shooting video content for short and long-form content, writing articles, and ensuring the communication efforts were in line with the AJGA's mission.
Say
Cheese!
These are just a few of the pictures I took over the course of my internship. These pictures were used to create Facebook albums that AJGA juniors and their families could access and download the pictures to use. They were also used on social media, in articles, and logged into an online database for future use.
Keeping it Trendy
As a part of my position, I kept up with social media trends, found clever ways to incorporate golf, and made it relatable and appropriate for the AJGA juniors and their 28.6K followers to consume. These short-form videos were posted on TikTok and Instagram Reels. "Go Mary" reached 49.6k views and 8,010 likes (TikTok) and 1.2 M views and 16.1k likes (Reels) within a week of it being posted.
TikTok: 43.9K views | 3,581 likes
Instagram: 100K views | 3,557 likes
Instagram: 4.6M views | 43.3K likes
TikTok: 106.8K views | 8,658 likes
TikTok: 9,166 views | 763 likes
TikTok: 14.0K views | 1,232 likes
TikTok: 16.5K views | 1,267 likes
Sponsored Content
The AJGA has a lot of sponsors, and as part of our role, we had to seamlessly work these sponsorships and activations into our content while keeping up with emerging trends and pop culture references. Some of their big sponsors are Adidas, Biolyte, and BagBoy, so here are a few examples of content I created to meet those requirements.
This TikTok and Reel featured Biolyte using the "I'm thirsty" trend, and it generated great fan engagement.
This Reel captured "Moving Day," which is the day before the championship round where players rise on the leaderboard. This is one example of how we featured BagBoy content.
This is another example of Biolyte-sponsored content, jokingly playing at the notion that drinking Biolyte improves performance.
Letting the Cameras Roll
Here are some examples of long-form content I produced for the AJGA's YouTube. In addition to the weekly recaps of tournaments I created, I also looked for interesting stories that AJGA's followers would enjoy.
I had the pleasure of meeting Terry Finger, who has a long history with the AJGA. His commitment over the years was inspiring, and everything he has done over his two decades of chairmanship is incredible. I knew his story needed to be told.
One of my favorite tournaments was the 2022 Rolex Girls Junior Championship. It was a 72-player field full of some of the best junior golfers who have been competing against one another from a young age. This video showcases the transition from competitors to teammates as these girls head off to college.
Another from the 2022 Rolex Girls Junior Championship, this video contains all of the leaderboard interviews I did throughout the tournament. Speaking with these girls and watching them fight for the top spot was unbelievable. It was an honor to watch the 2022 champion, Kaitlyn Schroeder, win against some tough competitors.
Some e(X)amples
Below are some examples of tweets I created while I helped manage the AJGA's Twitter (X) account, which has a following of 32.8K individuals. For each tournament, our responsibilities included crafting and disseminating between 10 to 15 tweets over a four-day duration. This content primarily featured updates on tournament leaderboards, hole-in-one achievements, announcements of qualifier medalists, coverage of award ceremonies, and other engaging content.
Insta Worthy
Here are several instances of posts that I curated for their Instagram account, which has a substantial following of 109K followers. The content I selected and crafted emphasized comprehensive tournament coverage, noteworthy championship announcements, and on-brand videos that aligned with emerging trends.
I followed pro golfer Ben An around for the day as he made the rounds talking with the juniors, taking pictures with them, and giving advice.
I captured the winning putt of the 2022 Rolex Girls Championship and a heart-warming interaction with her sister.
This is a quick tour of the famous and historic Arnold Palmer golf course and clubhouse where the Arnold Palmer Invitational is played.
This post showcases coverage for the event Greenwood, NC hosted for the juniors. I captured real-time experiences and the fun the juniors and their family were having.
