The Washington Wizards got “Knicked up” on Career Day.

Last month, the Intro and Sports Marketing classes participated in Career Day at the Verizon Center for the Washington Wizards vs. the New York Knicks game.  Although the Wizards lost to the Knicks 101-95, the students at the game got to enjoy the many perks of the event.

“It was a lot of fun,” said senior Jake Flewellyn.  “I got to sit courtside for warm-ups and got to slap hands with Nick Young.”

Career Day is an annual event held at the Verizon Center over the past seven years.  It has hosted over 17,000 students and almost 200 different high schools from Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.  During Career Day, the students talked to three of the highest ranking executives of both Monumental Sports and Entertainment of the Wizards. The speakers answered a variety of questions about their jobs along with how they got those jobs.  Their main goal of the question and answer period was to stress to the students how it easy is to get internships and then work their way up in an organization. 

“I learned about all the different opportunities you can have through marketing,” said Flewellyn. 

To make this talk more interesting and eventful, the students got the pleasure of watching G-Man, the Wizards mascot, do his infamous dunks off the trampoline.   They even got the pleasure of hearing how G-Man himself became a member of the Wizards organization.  After the chairmen were finished with their presentation, the students were able to attend a college fair within the Verizon Center.  There were over 38 schools stationed around the Verizon Center before the start of the Wizards game, but of course that was not the part of the trip the students were looking forward to. 

Before the start of the game the students got to sit court side and watch both the Wizards and the Knicks warm-up. 

“My favorite part was getting [Ronnie] Turiaf’s attention,” said senior Michael Kim. 

Turiaf is a member of the Knicks and before the game, students were shouting the names of their favorite players and got either a hand shake or a slight wave in response.  Although the Wizards eventually lost the game, the students still enjoyed the event and the overall goal of the trip was accomplished.

“It [was] a great educational experience,” said Marketing teacher Vicky Petitbon-Kelly.  “For the speakers of their caliber to speak to a young group is a great opportunity.”