This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
A double major psychology and Spanish, John Thiel ’06 (Langhorne, Pa.) also is a sports fan with ambitions in marketing. He had both interests satisfied during an externship with the Philadelphia Flyers in January.
Thiel spent five days at Wachovia Center shadowing Shawn Tilger ’94, the Flyers’ director of marketing, observing marketing and promotions for the professional hockey club.
“I really got involved,” says Thiel. “It’s such a huge operation, and I was in a different department every day. It was great.”
He was among about 200 Lafayette students who gained first-hand knowledge of the professional world in January. They served externships with alumni and other experienced professionals in business, the arts, education, healthcare, law, engineering, science, government, non-profits, and other fields. The students observed work practices, learned about careers they may consider entering after college, and developed professional networking contacts.
Thiel spent the first day in the Flyers’ community relations department, which arranges appearances by players and answers fans’ letters. His second day familiarized him with customer service, which deals with season-pass holders, and on the third he visited the team archives, which are used to make in-game presentations.
He met a couple of Flyers players the fourth day in the team’s public relations department, and on the fifth learned about Fan Development, where programs such as Mites on Ice cultivate young fans.
“My favorite thing was watching the Flyers practice when I was working with the public relations department,” says Thiel. “There weren’t many people there. They were doing drills, with the coach in the middle.”
“John did a great job,” Tilger says. “We put him in a new department each day, so he got to see each part of the business.”
“We offer externships for two reasons,” he adds. “I want to stay involved in Lafayette and help the college as much as possible. Also, we see anything like this as trial employment. We see how someone thinks and reacts. It gives you a gauge of the person.”