You could say 16-year-old Nick Wayman hit a home run with his internship this summer.
Wayman, a junior in HFM PTECH’s business pathway, has been working for the Amsterdam Mohawks baseball team since the middle of May and will continue with the team through August. The experience has helped steer him down a more focused career path, and he now sees a sports marketing career as a possibility.
“This internship had everything I want to do in my career. I never thought I’d have an opportunity like this,” he said.
Since school let out for the summer, Wayman has been putting in full-time hours with the Mohawks. To see him at the field — talking with players and other employees and taking photos of fans, among other things — you might assume he’s been working this gig for much longer.
“You have to get out of your comfort zone and open up and talk to people,” he said.
He’s especially grateful for the networking with local business people he’s been able to do throughout the internship.
“You meet so many great people and make good connections with the sponsors,” he said. “I’ve grown some great relationships, and I get constant feedback. The experience has been amazing.”
Some of Wayman’s responsibilities include posting photos and other materials to the Mohawks’ social media channels, updating the website, and writing the script for the announcer. The overall goal, however, is not lost on him.
“We do everything we can to give these players what they need to be successful and go pro,” he said, adding that they also work hard to grow the team’s fan base.
If a problem arises during a game, Wayman said he and the other staff members work very hard to make sure no one can tell that anything is amiss.
“You have to think and act fast, so no one notices,” he said. “There’s a lot of collaboration that needs to happen. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes.”
The other Mohawks interns are college students who are a few years older than Wayman. But Brian Spagnola, president and general manager of the Mohawks, said the young PTECH student has shown great professionalism.
“Nick has really worked his tail off. He just jumps right in wherever we need him,” he said.
The interns are given particular nights for which to coordinate activities, and Wayman was assigned Garage Sale Night and NASCAR Night. For NASCAR Night, he arranged to bring drivers and cars to the field and mapped out activities throughout the evening.
“Nick came up with ideas of his own, and that’s what we’re looking for,” Spagnola said.
Barry Rouse, director of activities, said he has been impressed with Wayman’s work ethic and the ideas he brings to meetings.
“Nick is motivated, hardworking, attentive to detail and organized,” he said.
Wayman credits his work at PTECH for providing the necessary professional skills for the internship.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do this without PTECH,” he said. “PTECH has built me to be the person that I am.”
