DAVIS, Calif. — UC Davis' groundbreaking Aggie EVO program is all about the evolution of the student-athlete, moulding, shaping, preparing student-athletes for a life after college, after sports.
Since mid-March, with much of the population quarantined, sheltered in place, and balancing family and work responsibilities, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the professional world has been forced to evolve as well and UC Davis women's beach volleyball player
Claire Jackson had the opportunity to go along for the ride.
Thanks to the advice of Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Outcomes Dr.
Michael Lorenzen, Jackson stumbled upon the listing via Handshake — a website specializing in helping college students find jobs — and, subsequently, aced an on-campus interview. That led to her being selected for a summer sales internship learning from the minds at one of the world's biggest brands, PepsiCo, and experiencing the "Joy of Cola" during the company's first-ever virtual internship in the United States.
Thanks to the Aggie EVO program, Jackson was indeed "The Choice of a New Generation" for PepsiCo, crediting the program with helping her create a LinkedIn profile that projected a "well-rounded image of who she is as a corporate employee" and helping "tell her story" by confidently preparing her for her face-to-face interview.
"I was shocked to see that some of the interns either didn't have a LinkedIn or hadn't updated it in a long time," Jackson said. "The advice that I would give to Aggies about going through the process of finding a career or internship would be to set aside time to sit down and do a little things.
"It feels a little bit tedious to make sure that your LinkedIn and resume are always up-to-date and that your cover letter is unique for each job that you apply for, but it's so necessary. Especially as a student-athlete, it is easy to say that you don't have time or that you are tired from a long day of practice and team meetings, but even setting aside 30 minutes a few different times a week can set you so much further ahead than other potential applicants."
For six weeks, Jackson worked virtually alongside others as PepsiCo transformed its traditional on-site experience into something a little more nimble, allowing its summer class of 977 other interns from over 150 universities and 45 different states and territories, to work toward a common goal while gaining the full internship experience.
That experience included a podcast ("PepsiCo Prep") to prepare interns for a virtual working environment, Virtual GFeat workouts developed in partnership with Gatorade, and a Leader Live series where interns interacted directly with company senior leadership, all of which, Jackson said, helped enhance her internship experience in different ways and gave her insight on what a future career with the company could potentially look like.
Lest you think her time was spent taste-testing the newest soft drink flavors from her couch in her hometown of Corte Madera, Calif., just north of San Francisco, Jackson and the rest of her intern class was kept plenty busy with two different projects and Zoom meetings with group members, managers, and mentors, rather than face-to-face interactions with current and future clients.
"One project was focused on re-marketing an already existing product to increase consumer sales and brand awareness," Jackson said. "The other project was focused more around reducing waste created in sales and delivery throughout the western division. For both projects I have been working in small groups to research, analyze data, come up with sustainable solutions, and create a slide deck to report out to senior leaders."
This summer's opportunity with PepsiCo was not the first trip around the block for Jackson, who spent the summer of 2019 as a business development intern helping building relationships with clients for tech start-up, Humanly, a Seattle-based company that developed software to help schedule and screen candidates for different jobs. However, that position offered her the benefit of hands-on, in-person, learning and interaction — a drastically different atmosphere than her work during the six-week PepsiCo internship, but one she was prepared for thanks to her experience as a student-athlete, which has taught her accountability, teamwork, leadership, time management, and discipline.
"I think some of the biggest challenges have been learning how to adapt and work as a team while we are all working from remote locations and finding the best way to use the resources that we had available," Jackson said. "There were points in both projects when we weren't really sure what direction to go in or what to research so we had to find information ourselves either by utilizing the online learning platform that PepsiCo provides for its employees or talking with our mentor/manager.
"If we were all at our intended location for this internship it would have been a lot easier to work on this group project and we would have easier access to information. There were a lot of Zoom meetings and email chains that we have had to be on top of in order to receive all the information we needed."
Admittedly better with communication and building relationships rather than analyzing hard data, perhaps the largest chunk of information she received was learning how to create and foster business relationships while building a professional network that will serve her well after graduation.
"College can be weird because it feels like you're in this bubble that lasts forever," Jackson said. "I think that I better understand how important it is to network with people and continue building relationships better than I used to. When I would hear the term "networking" during my freshman and sophomore year it felt like some thing that wasn't that important and something that I would have time for later.
"Now that I have had the opportunity to intern for two different companies, meet tons of new people, and really see the opportunities that are out there, I know that I have a unique skill set and I am confident in my ability to put myself into the working world."
ABOUT UC DAVIS
With the addition of equestrian and women's beach volleyball in 2018, more than 700 student-athletes represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation on one of 25 intercollegiate athletics teams.
UC Davis, a national leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, is centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley; and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.
Ranked annually in the top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.
AGGIE EVO
Launched in 2017-18, the Aggie EVO System is UC Davis Athletics' investment in the primary mission of preparing student-athletes for a successful "launch" after graduation. Thanks to a collaboration of alumni, university resources, corporate partners, coaches and Student-Athlete Outcomes staff, all Aggies are guided over four years to acquire the skills, knowledge, opportunities and tools to better know and navigate the "World of Work" after graduating from UC Davis. Follow the Aggie EVO system on Twitter and Instagram at @AggieEVO.
