{"id":11116,"date":"2018-07-12T09:11:33","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T13:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=11116"},"modified":"2024-09-17T15:09:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T19:09:44","slug":"nba-internship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/","title":{"rendered":"K Athlete Flexes Liberal Arts Muscle in NBA Internship"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Amanda Moss \u201919, the route to her prestigious internship<\/a> this summer at National Basketball Association<\/a> (NBA) headquarters in New York City began, improbably, with getting kicked out of a gym.<\/p>\n

\"Amanda
Economics and business major Amanda Moss applied for a highly competitive NBA internship and was one of 50 students chosen from a pool of 6,000.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She says that while she was a basketball player in high school, she went to the community gym in her Detroit suburb daily during the summer to practice her jump shot. One day, however, an employee of the Detroit Pistons NBA team told her she would have to leave because the courts were reserved for a team-run youth basketball program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to pack up but then I looked around and saw they were way understaffed for the event they were going to hold,\u201d she recalls. \u201cSo I went back up to the guy and I offered my assistance. He took me up on the offer and I helped set up chairs, run the scoreboard, that sort of thing, and helped to clean up when it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the event, she says, the employee chatted with her and ended up offering her a summer job at the Pistons\u2019 youth basketball camp.<\/p>\n

\"Amanda
Amanda Moss, who plays on Kalamazoo College’s women’s basketball team, is working in an NBA internship this summer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI did that every summer for four years,\u201d says Moss, who plays women\u2019s basketball<\/a> and lacrosse<\/a> and was just named to the Jewish Sports Review Women’s College Lacrosse All-America Team for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n

Along the way, she got to meet Pistons players including Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson and people in the team\u2019s corporate office. So when it came time to seek an internship in summer 2017, she was well-situated to apply to the Pistons. She worked in community relations and marketing for the team, conceiving a career forum for girls 9 to 16 and then running every aspect of the event, which included presenting a panel of college basketball players and women business leaders.<\/p>\n

That, in turn, set her up for this summer\u2019s internship. With the help of K\u2019s Center for Career and Professional Development<\/a> and with advice from her professors, the economics and business<\/a> major applied for the highly competitive program and was one of 50 students chosen from a pool of 6,000. She\u2019s working in the retail division of the NBA\u2019s Global Partnerships Department, which manages all aspects of the league\u2019s relationship with companies including Nike, New Era, Foot Locker and Amazon.<\/p>\n

That relationship includes activities such as licensing the sale of NBA-branded merchandise, arranging for advertising on NBA TV, approving the use of the NBA logo in social media messages and arranging player appearances at partner businesses, she says. Her role has been mainly in research. One assignment tasked her with finding out everything she could about how the NBA could work with Target Corp., and she says she discovered a natural fit in both organizations\u2019 emphasis on supporting community voluntarism\u2014a synergy around which her boss now is building a partnership program.<\/p>\n

She says her K education<\/a> has given her a real advantage in her role, especially a business research methods course that prepares students for their Senior Individualized Project<\/a> (SIP). Business and economics professor Timothy Moffit \u201980 put a heavy emphasis on identifying information sources in research papers, so in a PowerPoint presentation to NBA professionals, she says, she included a final slide listing all of her sources\u2014about 30, and many of them recognizable names.<\/p>\n

She says it helped cement the credibility and validity of her proposal. \u201cThey were really impressed. It\u2019s not something that they were expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Chinese<\/a> minor who studied abroad<\/a> in China during the 2017-18 school year, Moss also has had a chance to use her language skills, aiding her boss in a conference call with the NBA office in China, she says. And content- and video-editing skills she learned in a documentary filmmaking<\/a> course have turned out to be in high demand, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day is a new day at the league,\u201d she says. \u201cYou have to be very multidimensional. Part of the Kalamazoo College liberal arts<\/a> experience is being able to study multiple subjects because the K-Plan<\/em><\/a> is so flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the experience gained in her internships, and a planned SIP contrasting consumer perceptions of professional sports in the United States and China, she hopes to land a corporate job in international sports after graduation. Her ultimate goal\u2014\u201creally just a dream\u201d at this point, she says\u2014would be to start a nonprofit venture that uses sports to connect with and empower Chinese girls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was adopted from China, and when I went to my study abroad in China, I got to volunteer coach in some of the schools, and there was a huge absence of girls in all of the basketball programs,\u201d she says, adding that Chinese girls get little encouragement to participate in team sports in general.<\/p>\n

In another effort to help people achieve their goals, she is teaming with fellow Kalamazoo College athletes<\/a> Alex Dupree \u201921 and Jordan Wiley \u201919 to form a sports business club for K students that will aid them in charting their way to careers in sports-oriented businesses and link them with alumni in the field.<\/p>\n

Her effort to create what she calls \u201cnew channels and opportunities\u201d for her classmates echoes what she says is her goal on the lacrosse field and basketball court: \u201cto play for my teammates and make great memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moss\u2019 enthusiasm and cooperative yet competitive spirit wins high praise from K physical education<\/a> professor and coach Jeanne Hess.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmanda is one of the most committed players and teammates I\u2019ve seen come through Kalamazoo College,\u201d Hess says. \u201cShe plays with passion and ferocity and she\u2019s fun to watch. She\u2019s going to do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Amanda Moss \u201919, the route to her prestigious internship this summer at National Basketball Association (NBA) headquarters in New York City began, improbably, with getting kicked out of a gym. She says that while she was a basketball player in high school, she went to the community gym in her Detroit suburb daily during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":11118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231],"tags":[93,163,56,92,104,146,62,216,161,103,47],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-11116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","tag-career-development","tag-chinese","tag-economics","tag-internships","tag-k-plan","tag-liberal-arts","tag-phys-ed","tag-physical-education","tag-senior-integrated-project","tag-student-organizations","tag-study-abroad"],"yoast_head":"\r\nNBA Internship Helps K Athlete Flex Her Liberal Arts Muscles<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For Amanda Moss \u201919, the route to her prestigious NBA internship in New York City began with getting kicked out of a gym.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NBA Internship Helps K Athlete Flex Her Liberal Arts Muscles\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For Amanda Moss \u201919, the route to her prestigious NBA internship in New York City began with getting kicked out of a gym.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News and Events\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-12T13:11:33+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-17T19:09:44+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/\",\"name\":\"NBA Internship Helps K Athlete Flex Her Liberal Arts Muscles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-12T13:11:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-17T19:09:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"description\":\"For Amanda Moss \u201919, the route to her prestigious NBA internship in New York City began with getting kicked out of a gym.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"NBA Internship\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"K Athlete Flexes Liberal Arts Muscle in NBA Internship\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"News and Events\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NBA Internship Helps K Athlete Flex Her Liberal Arts Muscles","description":"For Amanda Moss \u201919, the route to her prestigious NBA internship in New York City began with getting kicked out of a gym.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NBA Internship Helps K Athlete Flex Her Liberal Arts Muscles","og_description":"For Amanda Moss \u201919, the route to her prestigious NBA internship in New York City began with getting kicked out of a gym.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/","og_site_name":"News and Events","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege","article_published_time":"2018-07-12T13:11:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-17T19:09:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@kcollege","twitter_site":"@kcollege","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/","name":"NBA Internship Helps K Athlete Flex Her Liberal Arts Muscles","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg","datePublished":"2018-07-12T13:11:33+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-17T19:09:44+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"description":"For Amanda Moss \u201919, the route to her prestigious NBA internship in New York City began with getting kicked out of a gym.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg","width":1024,"height":768,"caption":"NBA Internship"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"K Athlete Flexes Liberal Arts Muscle in NBA Internship"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/","name":"News and Events","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/author\/"},"guten_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",1024,768,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss-150x113.jpg",150,113,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",1024,768,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss-600x450.jpg",600,450,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",1024,768,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",1024,768,false],"ab-block-post-grid-landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",533,400,false],"ab-block-post-grid-square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",600,450,false],"pl-blogpost-landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",533,400,false],"pl-blogpost-square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",600,450,false],"guten_post_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",1024,768,false],"guten_post_layout_portrait_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",1024,768,false],"guten_post_layout_square_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",1024,768,false],"guten_post_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",533,400,false],"guten_post_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",600,450,false],"guten_post_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",600,450,false],"campus-posts-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",300,225,false],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",300,225,false],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",400,300,false],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss.jpg",600,450,false]},"category_info":"<a aria-label=\"archive of category Students\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/category\/students\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Students<\/a>","tags_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/career-development\/\" rel=\"tag\">career development<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/chinese\/\" rel=\"tag\">Chinese<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/economics\/\" rel=\"tag\">economics<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/internships\/\" rel=\"tag\">internships<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/k-plan\/\" rel=\"tag\">K-Plan<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/liberal-arts\/\" rel=\"tag\">liberal arts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/phys-ed\/\" rel=\"tag\">phys ed<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/physical-education\/\" rel=\"tag\">physical education<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/senior-integrated-project\/\" rel=\"tag\">Senior Integrated Project<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/student-organizations\/\" rel=\"tag\">student organizations<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/study-abroad\/\" rel=\"tag\">study abroad<\/a>","social_share_info":"<a data-share=\"facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/\" class=\"pl-facebook-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/\" class=\"pl-twiiter-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"linkedin\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/nba-internship\/\" class=\"pl-linkedin-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-linkedin-in\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a>","wordExcerpt_info":"<p>For Amanda Moss \u201919, the route to her prestigious <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.kzoo.edu\/ccd\/internships\/ccpdip\/\">internship<\/a> this summer at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nba.com\">National Basketball Association<\/a> (NBA) headquarters in New York City began, improbably, with getting kicked out of a gym.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11118\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11118\" style=\"width: 584px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11118\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/NBA-Internship-Amanda-Moss-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"Amanda Moss Attending NBA Draft through her NBA Internship\" width=\"584\" height=\"438\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11118\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Economics and business major Amanda Moss applied for a highly competitive NBA internship and was one of 50 students chosen from a pool of 6,000.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She says that while she was a basketball player in high school, she went to the community gym in her Detroit suburb daily during the summer to practice her jump shot. One day, however, an employee of the Detroit Pistons NBA team told her she would have to leave because the courts were reserved for a team-run youth basketball program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started to pack up but then I looked around and saw they were way understaffed for the event they were going to hold,\u201d she recalls. \u201cSo I went back up to the guy and I offered my assistance. He took me up on the offer and I helped set up chairs, run the scoreboard, that sort of thing, and helped to clean up when it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the event, she says, the employee chatted with her and ended up offering her a summer job at the Pistons\u2019 youth basketball camp.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11122\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11122\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11122\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/07\/Womens-Basketball-Amanda-Moss-300x425.jpg\" alt=\"Amanda Moss Playing Basketball NBA Internship\" width=\"300\" height=\"425\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11122\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amanda Moss, who plays on Kalamazoo College’s women’s basketball team, is working in an NBA internship this summer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI did that every summer for four years,\u201d says Moss, who plays <a href=\"https:\/\/hornets.kzoo.edu\/sports\/wbkb\/index\">women\u2019s basketball<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/hornets.kzoo.edu\/sports\/wlax\/index\">lacrosse<\/a> and was just named to the Jewish Sports Review Women’s College Lacrosse All-America Team for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n<p>Along the way, she got to meet Pistons players including Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson and people in the team\u2019s corporate office. So when it came time to seek an internship in summer 2017, she was well-situated to apply to the Pistons. She worked in community relations and marketing for the team, conceiving a career forum for girls 9 to 16 and then running every aspect of the event, which included presenting a panel of college basketball players and women business leaders.<\/p>\n<p>That, in turn, set her up for this summer\u2019s internship. With the help of K\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/student-life\/growing-at-k\/career-development\/\"> Center for Career and Professional Development<\/a> and with advice from her professors, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/economics-business\/\">economics and business<\/a> major applied for the highly competitive program and was one of 50 students chosen from a pool of 6,000. She\u2019s working in the retail division of the NBA\u2019s Global Partnerships Department, which manages all aspects of the league\u2019s relationship with companies including Nike, New Era, Foot Locker and Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>That relationship includes activities such as licensing the sale of NBA-branded merchandise, arranging for advertising on NBA TV, approving the use of the NBA logo in social media messages and arranging player appearances at partner businesses, she says. Her role has been mainly in research. One assignment tasked her with finding out everything she could about how the NBA could work with Target Corp., and she says she discovered a natural fit in both organizations\u2019 emphasis on supporting community voluntarism\u2014a synergy around which her boss now is building a partnership program.<\/p>\n<p>She says her <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/catalog\/index.php?id=3518\">K education<\/a> has given her a real advantage in her role, especially a business research methods course that prepares students for their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/catalog\/index.php?id=3486\">Senior Individualized Project<\/a> (SIP). Business and economics professor Timothy Moffit \u201980 put a heavy emphasis on identifying information sources in research papers, so in a PowerPoint presentation to NBA professionals, she says, she included a final slide listing all of her sources\u2014about 30, and many of them recognizable names.<\/p>\n<p>She says it helped cement the credibility and validity of her proposal. \u201cThey were really impressed. It\u2019s not something that they were expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/chinese\/\">Chinese<\/a> minor who <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/k-plan\/study-abroad\/\">studied abroad<\/a> in China during the 2017-18 school year, Moss also has had a chance to use her language skills, aiding her boss in a conference call with the NBA office in China, she says. And content- and video-editing skills she learned in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/film-media-studies\/\">documentary filmmaking<\/a> course have turned out to be in high demand, as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery day is a new day at the league,\u201d she says. \u201cYou have to be very multidimensional. Part of the Kalamazoo College <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/k-plan\/academics\/\">liberal arts<\/a> experience is being able to study multiple subjects because the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/k-plan\"><em>K-Plan<\/em><\/a> is so flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the experience gained in her internships, and a planned SIP contrasting consumer perceptions of professional sports in the United States and China, she hopes to land a corporate job in international sports after graduation. Her ultimate goal\u2014\u201creally just a dream\u201d at this point, she says\u2014would be to start a nonprofit venture that uses sports to connect with and empower Chinese girls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was adopted from China, and when I went to my study abroad in China, I got to volunteer coach in some of the schools, and there was a huge absence of girls in all of the basketball programs,\u201d she says, adding that Chinese girls get little encouragement to participate in team sports in general.<\/p>\n<p>In another effort to help people achieve their goals, she is teaming with fellow <a href=\"https:\/\/hornets.kzoo.edu\/landing\/index\/\">Kalamazoo College athletes<\/a> Alex Dupree \u201921 and Jordan Wiley \u201919 to form a sports business club for K students that will aid them in charting their way to careers in sports-oriented businesses and link them with alumni in the field.<\/p>\n<p>Her effort to create what she calls \u201cnew channels and opportunities\u201d for her classmates echoes what she says is her goal on the lacrosse field and basketball court: \u201cto play for my teammates and make great memories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moss\u2019 enthusiasm and cooperative yet competitive spirit wins high praise from K <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/physical-education\/\">physical education<\/a> professor and coach Jeanne Hess.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmanda is one of the most committed players and teammates I\u2019ve seen come through Kalamazoo College,\u201d Hess says. \u201cShe plays with passion and ferocity and she\u2019s fun to watch. She\u2019s going to do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11116"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23109,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11116\/revisions\/23109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11116"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=11116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}