Ten CMU students to volunteer at Super Bowl in New Orleans
Some Central Michigan University Meeting Professionals International members will be the only students working from inside the Superdome Sunday for the Super Bowl.
Ten MPI students are in New Orleans, La. today, Thursday and Friday volunteering at the NFL Experience, which the NFL calls an "interactive theme park."
They will spend Saturday at the DirecTV Celebrity Beach Bowl, and on Super Bowl Sunday the students will be working with VIP hospitality from inside the Superdome.
MPI Social Media Chair and Royal Oak senior Lindsay Anderson found out about the opportunity to work at the Super Bowl by emailing Cameron Kovach, a member of the 2013 Super Bowl Host Committee. She explained to Kovach how MPI students interested in event management could benefit from working events at the Super Bowl.
“We are the only student group that gets to work inside that day,” Anderson said. “There are other universities going down, but since we personally contacted him and told him how much we wanted to volunteer and work, we’re working more than other groups. Other universities are working three to four hours a day, and we are working six to eight hours.”
MPI Vice President Emily Kent said this is a great opportunity to network.
“I know there will be a lot of organizations down there that do all types of things in event management,” the Grand Rapids senior said. “And there are going to be some really big companies, so this will allow us to get our names out there.”
MPI students have worked at other large events in the past, but nothing as extravagant as the Super Bowl.
“I think we’re all really excited because it’s a different aspect of event planning,” Anderson said. “I’ve gone to the Parks and Music festival (in Nashville), (Emily) has gone to the Boston Marathon, and we’ve done that sort of stuff, but nothing as big as the Super Bowl or this sports-oriented.”
In order to choose the 10 participants to go New Orleans, the MPI executive board required all members to fill out an application, and the top 10 were selected to go.
Kent said there will still be other events for MPI students to work at if they were not selected.
“We offer more than just (the Super Bowl),” she said. “There are other events, like the Traverse City Comedy Festival. Just because you’re an event management minor doesn’t mean you’re going to want to do the same types of events. We try to get a diverse sample of what the event management industry is really like.”
This is an opportunity for MPI students to broaden their horizons, and Anderson is excited to volunteer for the event.
“We’re really excited,” Anderson said. “Originally, when we met as an executive board for MPI, we wanted to find new volunteer opportunities for events that kind of veered away from concerts and focused more on the sports side, and there is nothing quite like the Super Bowl.”
