Sports business professionals set to engage students at annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge High School Seminar
As part of the festivities surrounding the 13th annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Baton Rouge, La., ESPN Events will present its annual High School Seminar at historic McKinley High School. The panel-style event will be attended by 650 juniors and seniors beginning at 8:30 a.m. CT on Friday, Sept. 1. ESPN SportsCenter anchor Jay Harris will once again emcee the event.
Now in its tenth year, the High School Seminar provides local high school students the opportunity to hear from and interact with a wide variety of professionals in the sports and entertainment industry. Throughout the panel’s presentation, the students in attendance are offered ideas and inspiration to help craft their goals for the future, as well as opportunity to lead the conversation through their questions.
The 2017 career panel will feature:
- Tambria Bradford, Academic Counselor, University of Louisiana at Lafayette: Tambria joined the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns family as an Academic Counselor in 2012. In addition to serving as an Academic Counselor, Tambria works with Student-Athletes Affairs programs, oversees transfer certification, and is an adjunct instructor. Tambria primarily works with the Women’s Basketball, Volleyball, Softball, Women’s Tennis, and Men’s & Women’s Track and Field teams. Prior to her time at Louisiana, Tambria was an Academic Counselor at Jackson State University in Jackson MS. She also taught high school biology and was the Head Varsity Girls Basketball coach at Terry High School in Terry, Mississippi.
- Benjamin Bullock, Video Production Specialist, LSU Sports Properties: Benjamin Bullock joined the LSU Sports Properties team in August of 2016 as a Video Production Specialist, where he helps create original content for LSU’s athletics programs. Previously, Bullock spent three years at his Alma Mater – Delaware State University – serving as the Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director and Director of Multimedia/Social Media. Bullock also constructed and taught the first-ever Digital Athletic Media Relations course in conjunction with athletic department and mass communications office during the 2015-16 school year.
- Stephanie Grant, Senior Events Manager, ESPN Events: Stephanie has been with ESPN for 18 years, working in Accounting and Programming for four years each before joining ESPN Events. In her current role she oversees all day-to-day planning, game day operations and logistics on some of ESPN’s major owned and operated collegiate basketball and football events, including the MEAC/SWAC Challenge, Champions Classic, PK80 and Celebration Bowl. Other responsibilities include negotiating vendor and hotel deals, creating tickett and marketing strategies, developing and maintaining event budgets, and managing various ancillary functions.
- Trayvean Scott, Executive Associate Athletics Director, Southern University: As Executive Associate Athletic Director at Southern University, Scott is responsible for the daily operations of SU’s athletic program. Scott currently serves as the sport administrator for Football, Men’s Basketball, Softball, and Men & Women’s Track & Field (Indoor & Outdoor) while overseeing NCAA compliance, student-athlete support services, academics, student-athlete development, as well as the strength & conditioning program. Scott is also responsible for football game scheduling. He serves as a member of the athletics department’s senior staff, and previously served as Southern’s Associate Athletic Director. Outside of athletics administration, Scott is an adjunct faculty member in the College of Business at Southern where he teaches courses in Business Administration, Management, and Sports Marketing.
- Jake Sims, Account Executive, LSU Sports Properties: Sims joined LSU Sports Properties in 2014 and is responsible for selling a variety of sponsorship opportunities for LSU Athletics. These assets reach the more than 1.3 million fans who attend LSU athletic events each year, in addition to millions more through LSU’s radio, social media, and other multimedia platforms. Prior to joining LSU Sports Properties, Sims was an Inside Sales Representative with Charlotte’s NBA team as they rebranded from the Bobcats to the Hornets. Sims has also spent time with the Sun Belt Conference, New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) and the Washington Nationals.
This year’s MEAC/SWAC Challenge kicks off at 1:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, Sept. 3, from Ace W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge. The season-opening game, which will be televised nationally on ESPN2, will feature the MEAC’s South Carolina State University against the SWAC’s Southern University. Several additional events take place around the game, including the Seminar, a pep rally on Saturday night, and the halftime Battle of the Bands.
Tickets for the game are available via Southern’s ticket office at 225-771-3171 or online through Ticketmaster. The MEAC/SWAC Challenge is owned and operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN. For more information, visit www.meacswacchallenge.com.
ESPN Events
ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a large portfolio of 31 collegiate sporting events worldwide. The roster includes three Labor Day weekend college football games; FCS opening-weekend game; 14 college bowl games, 11 college basketball events and two college award shows, which accounts for approximately 300-plus hours of programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers and attracts over 700,000 attendees each year. With satellite offices in Albuquerque, Birmingham, Boca Raton, Boise, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Montgomery and St. Petersburg, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.
ESPN Events also manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.
Collegiate Football
AdvoCare Texas Kickoff (Houston); Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (St. Petersburg, Fla.); Bahamas Bowl (Nassau); Birmingham Bowl (Alabama); Boca Raton Bowl (Florida); Camping World Kickoff (Orlando, Fla.); Celebration Bowl (Atlanta); Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise); Frisco Bowl (Frisco, Texas); Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff (Montgomery, Ala.); Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Las Vegas Bowl (Nevada); Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth); MEAC/SWAC Challenge (Baton Rouge, La.); Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.); Texas Bowl (Houston); The Home Depot College Football Awards (Atlanta) and Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth)
Collegiate Basketball
AdvoCare Invitational (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); Armed Forces Classic (Ramstein Air Base, Germany); College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s (Los Angeles); Gildan Charleston Classic (South Carolina); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Jimmy V Men’s Classic presented by Corona (New York City); Jimmy V Women’s Classic presented by Corona (TBD); NIT Season Tip-Off (Brooklyn, N.Y.); PK80 (Portland, Ore.); Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); State Farm Champions Classic (Chicago) and Wooden Legacy (Fullerton, Calif.)
For more information, visit the official website, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube pages.
-30-
ESPN Media Contact: Anna Negron at 860-766-2233 or [email protected].
