Maddie Meyerle has dreamed of working in the volleyball world since she was a kid. Through the College of Journalism and Mass Communications’ unique sports media and communications program — and its connections to recent alumni — she’s been able to land an internship with the Omaha Supernovas professional volleyball team.
When Meyerle secured an internship with the Omaha Supernovas, she felt she was accomplishing something more than just gaining professional experience.
“Twelve-year-old Maddie would have considered this a dream internship,” she said. “I started playing volleyball when I was six and my goal ever since has been to work in volleyball.”
Learning that Geoff Exstrom, a CoJMC alum and Supernovas' director of communications, was hiring a media relations intern, Meyerle jumped at the chance to leverage a Husker alumni connection and learn from someone only a few years ahead of her in her dream career.
“Geoff has been such an amazing mentor to me,” Meyerle said. “I work directly under him as a media relations intern, handling things like credentials, match stats, post-game press conferences and writing match recaps.”
All this work before, during and after matches makes for long days that have put her communications skills to the test.
“I've already grown a lot as a writer — there's a certain voice that comes with match recaps or different sports writing,” Meyerle said. “Figuring out what kind of voice is consistent with the Supernovas’ brand took me a couple games to figure out, but I think I’m getting it down now.”
Along with guidance from Exstrom, her sports media and communications classes are giving her the skills she needs to succeed in her internship (and vice versa).
“I’m taking a class right now with Brian Petrotta on sports media and public relations and we’re learning literally everything that I’m doing for my internship," Meyerle said. "The class is helping me with my internship while my internship is helping with my class.”
Meyerle will be with the Supernovas for the remainder of their season, but she’s already looking to the future and seeing what dreams she can conquer next.
“Looking at where I'm at now, I'm just so grateful for CoJMC, Geoff and everyone with the Supernovas for giving me this experience,” she said. “It’s shown me that, because I'm already here, I can go even further than what I dreamed.”
