NESN "Grand Slam Training Series" Virtual Externship Program A Success For Heather Bacon

Written by Kaley Brown '23
- ECGulls.com Contributor

BEVERLY, Mass. – For Endicott College students completing internships this past summer, the COVID-19 pandemic altered the search for, and completion of, potentially great experiential learning opportunities. Many businesses and companies put temporary hiring freezes in place making it nearly impossible for students to participate in a prototypical internship experience. 

However, this was no match for junior digital media major and Gulls' cheerleader Heather Bacon (Stratford, Conn.).

Bacon persevered through it all in her latest search for an internship, in part due to her passion for filmmaking and sports, and a little assistance from some Gulls along the way. 

"Brenda Campbell [the Director of Employer Relations in the Internship and Career Center] reached out to me in the middle of the pandemic with an opportunity to be matched up with an employee from the New England Sports Network (NESN) for a mentorship program for female students interested in sports and television," said Bacon.

Bacon, who was all for the opportunity, was eventually mentored by Bethany Castellano '15, who is a National Sales Coordinator at NESN, an Endicott alum, and former Gulls' cheerleader.

Bacon and Castellano were able to connect through a partnership that Women of NESN (WON) had built with Endicott this past year. Throughout the summer, Castellano helped Bacon with resume building, cover letter writing, and exploring the idea of a digital portfolio for Bacon's work.

In working with Bacon regularly during the summer, Castellano quickly realized Bacon would be a perfect candidate for NESN's recently developed externship program.

"Her passion and eagerness to become the most successful woman that she could be was extremely obvious," said Castellano. "I'm sure she doesn't know this but I got as much out of this mentoring as she did."

NESN's virtual summer externship program, named the "Grand Slam Training Series," fell in line perfectly with Bacon's experiential needs. The program offered college students "the opportunity to gain professional development skills as well as connect with a wide range of NESN team members from departments like Operations, Digital, Production, and more," per their website.

Bacon knew this opportunity would be a great addition to her resume, especially after completing a successful internship with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's (NHL) New York Islanders, the previous year.

Once Castellano got the go-ahead, she gave Bacon the contact information to reach out to those in charge of the externship program and Bacon was promptly accepted. 

Over the course of the remainder of the summer, NESN had employees from different departments speak to the externs weekly. Those departments included human resources, production, finance, creative service, digital media, operations, and more.

The CEO of NESN, Sean McGrail, spoke to the group at their final Zoom meeting of the summer, which was something that stuck out to Bacon.

"I thought that was pretty awesome," said Bacon. "He discussed his experience with NESN with us, what his role is, and gave us advice on how to get into the sports industry."

Bacon's experience as an extern with NESN also helped narrow down her potential career paths. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in either producing or directing shows for a sports programming company such as NESN or ESPN. If that doesn't work out, Bacon wants to operate cameras and/or be a part of an operations staff for game days either in the studio or on-site at the stadium.

Additionally, Bacon enjoyed hearing employees from all departments within the company talk about their role(s), experience(s), and advice, but the week the production team spoke to the group was her favorite.

"Many of my fellow externs and I treated the production session like a Q&A with all of the staff, and they offered great insight," said Bacon. "One of the biggest takeaways for me from that session was that if you want something or want to achieve something, then go get it. There is nothing stopping you."

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING HAPPENS ON CAMPUS TOO

Not only has Endicott's internship program helped Bacon get experience in her field, but also being a part of the school's television programming club, Endicott College Television (ECTV), and ECGulls. ECTV is Endicott's student-run TV station that can be seen both on television on campus and through online streaming. As for ECGulls, it's Endicott's athletics website and social media presence that posts all things Endicott athletics, houses its student-athletes' statistics, game scores, archived stats, as well as produces and streams on-campus sporting events, and more.

Bacon discovered ECTV at one of her first visits to Endicott as a high school student and immediately joined the club as a freshman. 

"Everyone who is a part of ECTV wears many many hats," said Bacon. "I started off on the cameras, which is where I wanted to be. I somehow got thrown into anchoring for both sports and the news and now Ellie [Pye] (ECTV's advisor) has me directing a few of the news shows."

Behind the scenes of any television programming is fast-paced. Bacon is thankful to be a part of ECTV because it forces her to stay on her toes as a camera operator and director and pay attention to minor details that can have a big impact on the outcome of the production. Being exposed to all of the cameras and various equipment that is used to produce a program has also given Bacon the confidence to operate just about anything that involves TV. 

Not only that, but also the confidence that she's in the right field, as well.

Meanwhile, being a part of ECGulls' production team has given Bacon unique learning and working experiences on the comfort of her own campus.

"ECGulls is probably one of the best working experiences I've had in my past three years in college," said Bacon. "It helped me realize how much I enjoyed the world of sports media."

Of the various roles that ECGulls provides to its staff, which is mostly comprised of student workers, such as statisticians, photographers, and broadcasters, Bacon is the primary camera operator for on-campus sporting events that ECGulls film. More recently, before COVID-19 struck, Bacon had taken on the role of "producer", where she would update the score of the game on the ECGulls live stream, keep track if the stream was broadcasting to its proper platforms, monitor the broadcasters' audio, switch cameras, and troubleshoot any issues that arose during the live event.

Bacon says taking on all of these roles has given her a new appreciation for those successful in this field, and that she always learns something new each game day. Whether that be about a nuance with one of the cameras or resolving a technical problem on the spot, each experience comes with a lesson or gives her a new skill that she can tell future employers about.

In the male-dominated industry of sports media, Bacon has already proven that she is as talented and qualified as her future male counterparts and competition are. Through her internships in the sports industry and her lengthy experience in front of and behind the camera on campus, it's no question that Bacon would be a top candidate for any job if she applied for a position right now, especially with her NESN externship prominently placed on her resume.

Bacon's head coach, Jennifer Riley, also spoke highly of the junior as an athlete, teammate, student, and person, which confirmed her abilities to find success in the sports media landscape.

"I've been lucky enough to see Heather grow into a confident young woman these last two years since I began coaching her," said Riley. "She always strives to be better than the day before, not only for her personal improvement but also for the benefit of her teammates."

As a fellow woman in sports, Riley said she is ecstatic to see Bacon explore a role in the sports industry.

"It's great to see a fresh face climbing her way up," said Riley. "I think Heather is a great role model for others wanting to pursue a career in this field because she is fearless and brings her fun energy to the table."

THE ENDICOTT INTERNSHIP MODEL

A philosophy of "learning by doing" permeates the college curriculum in which students are encouraged to integrate theory and practice in all of their studies.

Through their experiences in internships students will be prepared to:

• Apply, integrate, and evaluate knowledge within a particular academic discipline
• Develop competencies for careers and community service
• Explore career options and gain field experience
• Foster personal growth through increased self-confidence, interpersonal skills, an understanding of self and others, and a heightened awareness of ethical standards
• Improve the ability to learn in a self-directed manner

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(Photo Credit - Devin Chaganis/Heather Bacon)