Whether coordinating high-stakes sports tech deployments, navigating cross-cultural office dynamics overseas, or scaling an enterprise from the ground up, University of Virginia students spent their summers testing their limits.
As the fall semester begins on Grounds, three Hoos took a little time to reflect on their summer ventures and share the key lessons they are bringing back to Charlottesville.
Han gets a behind-the-scenes look at professional sports during her summer internship with the NHL in New York City. “Some of the most valuable work isn’t the technical work itself – it’s translating it,” she said.
Taking on tech at the NHL
For Christine Han, a third-year student from Fairfax majoring in computer engineering, summer meant getting a behind-the-scenes look at professional sports as a project management intern for the National Hockey League in New York City. While working on web and app rollouts, business operations and event management tools, Han discovered technical skills are only half the battle.
“Some of the most valuable work isn’t the technical work itself – it’s translating it,” Han said. “I was constantly moving between developers, business teams and end users who all spoke completely different languages about the same project. A huge part of my job was making sure nothing got lost in translation.”
Han credited her UVA involvements – from managing end-to-end merchandise logistics for more than 110 members of the professional engineering fraternity Theta Tau to meeting deadlines for the hackathon organization Hoohacks – with preparing her for high-pressure deadlines.
Her advice for peers aiming for sports entertainment roles? Don’t hesitate.
“It’s never too late to apply, and do not think you have to be ‘qualified enough’ to start,” Han said. “Sports companies move fast once they’re interested, so you have to be ready to jump when the opportunity comes.”
Snow says during her time in London, she saw how work-life culture differs from the U.S. “It helped me as a professional strengthen my communication and problem-solving skills, giving me the ability to see another perspective.”
Navigating work and study in London
Across the Atlantic, third-year psychology major Lindsey Snow immersed herself in the heart of central London as a human resources and business administration intern with The Ringley Group. Balancing her internship with coursework in the UVA in London program, the Chesterfield native handled employee grievances and spearheaded improvements on the company’s internal HR platforms.
Her academic courses, specifically British Life and Culture with John Jacob Woolf and Working With/Across Cultures with Adam Dyer, complemented her office hours, offering immediate frameworks for understanding the differences she encountered in the workplace.
“Through these conversations, I was able to see how priorities and work-life culture in London differ from America,” Snow said. “It helped me as a professional strengthen my communication and problem-solving skills, giving me the ability to see another perspective.”
Balancing a full-time work schedule, academic work and weekend travel taught Snow valuable lessons. “Put your energy into people, things and experiences that make you happy,” she said. “Have a balance for yourself, and be comfortable with all that you do.”
Bearden is the co-founder of Jet’s Window Cleaning & Pressure Washing in Richmond. The UVA fourth-year student says he applies an engineering mindset to his company.
Growing a business in Richmond
While many students worked jobs and internships at established companies, Henry Bearden, a fourth-year student majoring in systems engineering, spent his summer scaling his own enterprise. As co-founder of Jet’s Window Cleaning & Pressure Washing, Bearden applied an engineering mindset to disrupt a traditional service industry in his own hometown of Richmond.
“We wanted to see what happens when we bring new, innovative perspectives to a ‘boring’ industry,” Bearden said. “This mindset has allowed us to grow rapidly through creative and unconventional revenue, organizational and recruitment structures.”
