When thinking about summer internships for college students across the country, working with the United States government probably isn't one of the first few things that comes to mind. But for five Virginia Tech student-athletes, that's exactly what came to fruition this past summer in 2022.
Interning with The MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that supports various U.S. government agencies in the aviation, defense, healthcare, homeland security and cybersecurity fields, all five Hokies were able to embark on quite the unconventional journey. Each played a key role in the McClean, Virginia-based corporation's day-to-day operations while gaining valuable experience in a real world setting.
"A little over two years ago there was a company-wide initiative where they allowed employees to propose inclusion and diversity initiatives that could help MITRE out long term," said former Virginia Tech punter and current MITRE employee Grant Bowden, who first spoke of developing a student-athlete internship program between both parties back in December of 2020.
"I submitted the NCAA Student-Athlete Initiative as a proposal. I then got some initial funding and asked one of my good friends at work, Justin Williams, another former college football player, to help tackle this issue with me," Bowden continued.
"We developed a briefing, briefed it to HR, Directors across MITRE and our Executives…we got a lot of buy-in."
Buy-in for good reason, too.
Bowden and Williams came up with that picture perfect sales pitch to higher-ups within the organization on why adding student-athletes would be a fantastic move for the rapidly growing corporation. In the grand scheme of things, the reasoning fits like pieces to a puzzle.
"MITRE is very project and team-oriented. Justin and I, being former college football players, recognized that some of the soft-skilled characteristics that you develop as a student-athlete such as being on a team, handling adversity, those kinds of things, allow you to really excel in the environment that is MITRE, which is essentially a think tank for the U.S. Government."
From there, it's been a grassroots effort.
Not long after, Tech, Virginia and Boston College became the first three schools accepted into the newfound program. And by February 2022, the ACC sent Director of Compliance Marra Hvozdovic to the corporation headquarters to discuss a formal partnership with senior leadership going forward.
The connection between the two was almost instantaneous.
"It's incredible what they're doing. I give MITRE a lot of credit for their recognition and appreciation of the student-athlete experience," said Hvozdovic, a former softball player at Tech.
"I'm just so appreciative that they recognize the ACC as a targeted place to find talented student-athletes. We don't have to convince them that student-athletes are valuable in the workforce. They already know it and believe it," she continued.
"There's this shared understanding that they bring that's really unique…hopefully it will lead to many employment opportunities for current and future student-athletes."
Hvozdovic, a 2012 graduate of Virginia Tech, actually was classmates with Bowden during their time together in Blacksburg. So to cross paths all these years later, while seeing how much of a success the partnership has been, certainly has been a sight to see.
"Connecting with Grant in this capacity with his role at MITRE, mine on behalf of the Atlantic Coast Conference, was kind of a full circle moment for both of us," she added. "I'm proud to see the work that Grant is doing, going above and beyond and ensuring that current student-athletes are represented in MITRE's internship program, while also being spotlighted in their full-time employment opportunities. I think it's something that should be celebrated, and I'm glad we're acknowledging it with this [partnership]."
The ratings from the student-athletes themselves have been absolutely raving.
"The experience was awesome. I really enjoyed the work that they gave me," praised Ben Nibbelink, a 2022 graduate of the track and field program. "The environment at the MITRE campus was really great. The culture in the company was really welcoming. Everyone was super supportive. I never felt like I was without support."
Nibbelink, a native of Leesburg, actually will be taking on a full-time job with the corporation upon completion of graduate school. So this wasn't exactly a one-time experience for the former computer science student.
Chris Maksimowicz, a member of the cheer team, certainly felt the same way when talking about the culture. A senior majoring in computer engineering, Maksimowicz further elaborated on that being a strength inside MITRE's organization, trying to convince others to join the internship program if given the opportunity.
"You could go up to anybody and have an easy conversation. It's not like people try to brush you away because they have stuff to do all the time…they're willing to make the time for you to have a better career because they see you as an asset," he said proudly when describing the home-like atmosphere throughout the corporation.
"They see you as you're the next generation. They see everybody as if they're at a high-level position. Not like 'oh you're an intern so go figure it out.' They're just really nice people. It's a great organization."
As Bowden mentioned, there are so many different ways to relate being a student-athlete to interning with MITRE. One of the forefront reasons for how the internship program was eventually put in place.
It's something the student-athletes even noticed themselves, too, particularly softball player Jenna Pearson.
"There's an unfortunate misconception that a lot of athletes don't really care about school or that they're only attending college to compete in their respective sport. But I think this program actually highlights a lot of the positive attributes and traits they have and can bring to the workplace," she admitted.
So what exactly are those attributes from a student-athlete perspective?
"Things like communication, teamwork and just perseverance," Pearson elaborated. "Being able to solve problems and push through any obstacles just as they would on the field or the court. It's a really great program that I hope to see more companies [take after] by trying to target NCAA student-athletes."
Pearson mentioned student-athletes across college athletics are often overlooked for internship opportunities due to certain diminished parts of their resume that stems from athletic time commitments. So to see MITRE take the initiative to specifically target student-athletes like the corporation has set out to do, certainly is something that is welcomed and appreciated.
"Just the knowledge that the work that I was doing was actually contributing to something meaningful and is able to be applied to real world problems is extremely fulfilling," said the redshirt junior from North Stafford.
"It's such a unique experience, especially as a student-athlete where with busy schedules it's really hard to get that industry experience. So the fact that over the summer I was working with current employees at MITRE to make a finished product was extremely fulfilling and insightful."
So how exactly did these five specifically latch on with the corporation?
The majority were connected through Sarah Lage, Senior Director for Student-Athlete Career Development within the Lombardi Student-Athlete Development Center, who was widely credited for helping these student-athletes gain access to such a coveted, high-level opportunity.
Each of the five also recognized the opportunity to represent Virginia Tech in all sorts of fashions. Whether the university, school of practice, athletics or their respective team in general, each individual beamed when discussing being afforded the right to put the maroon and orange in a positive light. Something that Alex Rhee specifically took a lot of pride in.
"If somebody takes a chance on a student-athlete, they know they're going to be getting someone who's hard-working. I definitely want to represent that," explained Rhee, a senior member of the cheer program.
"Coming from Virginia Tech's engineering program, which is quite highly ranked, I want to be able to show that I can do complicated work, that I can go above and beyond and show that both the engineering program and the athletics program have worked both my time management skills and my ability to push myself," he exclaimed. "[I want to be able to] step up to these challenges and have the background knowledge, the experience and the ability to tackle these complicated problems while seeing them through its entirety."
Rhee has also accepted a full-time position with MITRE upon completing his undergrad in May of 2023, so just another example of how much the internship program has made an impact in one way or another for all parties involved.
"It's definitely set a great foundation for professional experience for the real world," said 2021 track and field alumni Reagan Bustamante, who also took part in the internship program this past summer.
"MITRE is a learning organization at the core. There's always opportunities to expand your professional career set and your personal characteristics, too. So it's definitely been a great next step for me after graduation."
Bustamante is actually a second-year member of the internship program and was a part of the inaugural group that MITRE brought in a summer ago in 2021.
Only 10 student-athletes from the entirety of the ACC were accepted into the program for this past summer, meaning half of the participants represented the Hokies, with Virginia being the only other school to send multiple interns for 2022.
When considering those numbers in the grand scheme of things, that's got to be something that makes Bowden smile when thinking about what he had envisioned for the program before everything fell into place. And being a former Tech student-athlete himself, the sense of pride and connection to what currently is going on in Blacksburg all comes out when talking about it all coming to fruition.
"As they're going through their spring sports and Jenna and softball are going through regionals and Ben's running through NCAA's, it allowed not only myself but some of our management team here to cheer them on through all of that," he said. "It's something nice that you're connected to not only their success here at MITRE, but also their success back [at Tech]."
And sure, Hvozdovic may currently be employed by the ACC, but when it's all said and done, you have to know the Hokie inside of her is ecstatic to see her alma mater be this involved.
"The partnership specifically given Grant's background and MITRE's current location allowed for a natural connection with Virginia Tech," she conveyed. "It's exciting to see five student-athletes from Tech being represented in a group of 10. I'm just happy that we have student-athletes that are getting employment opportunities like that, and I think there should be some credit given to the student-athlete, as well.
"They've gone above and beyond in striving to find employment opportunities in the summer when they otherwise could find time away from the classroom, or take a break or focus on their athletic development," she continued. "There should be some credit and acknowledgment to them ensuring that they're getting the necessary development in the summer and preparing themselves for life after Virginia Tech."
That's exactly what MITRE has been about all along. And with the overwhelming positivity surrounding the program and its outreach, it doesn't seem like this partnership with the both the ACC and Virginia Tech athletics will be going away with the organization anytime soon.
"Hopefully we're at the beginning of this partnership and it's something that has a lasting impact on student-athletes [both at Virginia Tech] and the ACC," Hvozdovic added. "Hopefully it's the beginning of a continued relationship that will hopefully bring employment opportunities both in an internship experience, but also full-time employment opportunities for many ACC student-athletes to come."
