Athletic

Marketing
Practicum
By: Jaylin Parker
 Supervisor April Reid
April Reid a native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, is an alumnus of Winston-Salem State University and
holds the role as Assistant Athletic Director of Operations and Equipment for the WSSU athletic
d e p a r t m e n t s i n c e A u g u s t o f 2 0 2 2 . Re i d j o i n e d t h e W i n s t o n - S a l e m S t a t e A t h l e t i c D e p a r t m e n t i n f a l l o f
2015. She is tasked with managing all athletics facilities upkeep and the ordering and issuance of
equipment to all the athletic teams at Winston-Salem State. This includes managing the procurement,
maintenance, and repair of all WSSU athletics equipment and apparel.

She also is the lead for logistics and management of all game day and athletic events held by the WSSU
athletic department.

Reid c urrently ser ves as an ad visor y board member f or the WSSU Spor ts Man ag emen t depar tment an d
s u p e r v i s e s a s s i g n e d s t u d e n t s a n d i n t e r n s t o p r o v i d e h a n d s - o n w o r k e x p e r i e n c e i n t h e a t h l e t i c fi e l d . T h i s
includes but is not limited to game day operations, sports information, marketing, and facilities
management.
Supervisor Aries Thomas

A i r i s T h o m a s j o i n e d t h e Wi n s t o n - S a l e m S t a t e a t h l e t i c s c o m mu n i c a t i o n s s t a ff a s t h e S p o r t s
I n f o r ma t i o n D i r e c t o r i n J a n u a r y o f 2 0 2 2 a n d w i l l o v e r s e e t h e p u b l i c i t y o f a l l R a m s N C A A
Division II athletic programs. She also will help manage all the social media pages.

P r i o r t o W S S U , T h o ma s w a s a t C o p p i n S t a t e f o r f i v e m o n t h s a s t h e A s s i s t a n t D i r e c t o r o f
C o mm u n i c a t i o n s . S h e h e l p e d o v e r s e e t h e p u b l i c i t y o f a l l E a g l e s N C A A D i v i s i o n I a t h l e t i c
programs. Her last two months with the Eagles she served as the interim Sports Information
D i r e c t o r c o v e r i n g m e n a n d w o m e n ’s b a s k e t b a l l , a s w e l l a s b o w l i n g a n d v o l l e y b a l l . S h e h e l p e d
write feature stories for the website and assisted with the day-to-day operations in the
department.

T h o m a s a l s o a s s i s t e d t h e l o c a l M a r y l a n d c o l l e g e s s u c h a s B o w i e S t a t e a n d M o rg a n S t a t e w i t h
d o i n g s t a t i s t i c s f o r v o l l e y b a l l a n d f o o t b a l l , r e s p e c t i v e l y.  
Experiences

• Cleaning up before and af ter football games

• Throwing t-shirts to fans

• Counting the amount of people at games for capacity

• Tuning the sound of microphone and music at game

• Returning the equipment to designated place af ter games

• Handing out food to people that attend

Challenges and Lesson

There were not many challenges while working this internship.

Although, being available for games and other events were
diffi cult. The actual job itself was not challenging.

I did learn lessons during the internship, time management and

teamwork is everything when working. If you fail your
assignment, it could aff ect the whole team. It is important to
stay up on your task at hand for the unit to be successful.