My name is Madeleine Sherry, and this summer, I have worked as the Marketing Intern for Walla Walla Youth Lacrosse. As a junior majoring in Math and German Studies, this internship has followed my extracurricular interests rather than my academic ones. Since the fourth grade, lacrosse has always been an important part of my life, and this experience has helped build the foundation for a large lacrosse community in Walla Walla, where I hope that others can share the experience that I had growing up.
Coming into this internship, I expected my role as Marketing Intern to be fairly behind the scenes. Though website development and email creation are part of my role, I have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of hands-on program development and high-level planning that I have been able to do. Through working with Walla Walla Youth Lacrosse board members and USA Lacrosse representatives, I helped to develop, plan, and market a free clinic to introduce kids in the area to lacrosse. One of my biggest goals is to create a welcoming space for girls to get involved in lacrosse, and I’m excited to say that almost half of the 90 sign ups for this clinic so far are girls.
Though most of my projects will be completed in late Summer to early Fall, this work has already started to engage the Walla Walla community with lacrosse. Working to make this sport affordable and accessible has given me an interesting and unique perspective on how equity in sports can be approached.
Through USA Lacrosse, I have been able to apply for grants that would bring free equipment and programming to Walla Walla, giving children from lower-income families an equal opportunity to play. I have also been able to recruit volunteers from my own team at Whitman, creating a coaching staff for clinics and more that is filled by people who share a passion for the game. These connections between Whitman and the greater Walla Walla community are vitally important and will create a lasting, positive impact on the players, coaches, and growth of lacrosse in Walla Walla.
Since I will continue on as an intern for this organization in the fall, I hope to develop programs that engage kids of all ages and backgrounds. Working with the YMCA to develop a six-week camp in the fall is my next goal in the hopes that we can soon grow from the two teams currently in existence to add on a high school boys program, and, hopefully, a girls program, to encompass the wide variety interested in playing lacrosse. Fostering these relationships between the Walla Walla and Whitman communities is a key focus in my internship, and I hope during my time here, I can cement these connections in an enduring way that lasts well after my time at Whitman.
Experiences like Madeleine Sherry’s are made possible by the Whitman Internship Grant, which provides funding for students to participate in unpaid internships at nonprofit, some for-profit, and government organizations. We are happy to be sharing blog posts from students who were supported by either a summer, fall, spring, or year-long grants at organizations, businesses, and research labs all around the world. To learn how you could secure a Whitman Internship Grant or host a Whitman intern at your organization, contact us at ccec_info@whitman.edu.