Intern Spotlight: Kamari Hunter, Earlham College

Kamari Hunter of Earlham College in Indiana talks about his passion for sports and making a career in sports management.

Tell us about a project you worked on during your internship that was your favorite, the most challenging, or the most exciting.

Actually, that would probably be the project I’m currently working on which I'm presenting tonight. It’s a proposal to a soccer club, and we’re trying to get them to partner with us. Basically, we’d have the soccer club work with us, and all of their athletes would go through us so we could help these student athletes get connected with scholarships for college. It's exciting and a little nerve-racking; I’m going to be speaking tonight in front of hundreds of people proposing it to them. It’s a big deal!

Have you been able to apply some of your learning from school to your internship?

Earlham is a very diverse school as far as international students and working with people from different backgrounds is concerned. I learned a lot from that, and that’s probably one of the biggest things I see myself applying here. Learning how to adapt and work with different people and their different backgrounds.

What is the most interesting or unexpected thing you’ve experienced since you’ve arrived in DC?

The social life in D.C. I’m from Long Beach, California, so I’m familiar with the city and being around L.A., but there’s something about Washington, D.C.! There are always things to do without having to spend a lot of money.

How have you expanded your professional network for future career opportunities?

Through my boss. He has made a lot of connections for me, specifically, to a lot of people within the sports management field. And a lot of the connections that I’ve made through him have been willing to be close personal mentors and help me through the journey toward my career.

How has this experience shaped or impacted your career goals?

I knew I wanted to go into the sports management field, but if anything, this experience is making me want to lean even more toward sports management! It’s definitely a great experience. My end result is that I want to be an athletic director, so I’m just trying to get as much experience as I can in the sports management field so that I can feel prepared to progress that way.

What advice do you have for other students considering an internship with TWC?

The advice that I would give is, when they’re looking for an internship, not to get too caught up in making sure it’s what they want to do in their lives. The point of an internship is to get an understanding of a job by learning to do that job. I would say that you shouldn’t feel pressured into finding an internship in that process, because in an internship, you’re going to learn that you maybe might not want to do that particular job or maybe that it’s something you didn’t think you’d like but now you want to progress into it. So in your internship journey, just don’t get too worked up about it being your dream goal. It doesn’t have to reflect exactly where you what to finish in life.

About the Author

The Washington Center is the largest and most established student internship program in Washington, D.C. Since our founding, we've helped more than 60,000 individuals from across the U.S. and around the globe expand their academic pursuits into rewarding jobs and careers. We use our scale and expertise to deliver solutions that open career pathways for learners, solve recruitment challenges for employers, while helping create greater access, equity, advancement and representation.

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