Shelby Bradley | Sports Co-Editor

Director of Sports Information, Steven Phelps, is in his eighth year at Buena Vista University (BVU). Phelps attended BVU as a student where he worked in the Sports Information Office for all four years of his stay.

While working for the Sports Information Office he did public announcing his first three years and began other duties his senior year. Phelps also spent the summer following his graduation working in the office and the position became available two years later on, which he applied for and later was offered the position.

The Sports Information Office continues having work-study students as well as interns participate in their daily duties.

“I love being able to interact with them [students/interns] on a daily basis. They are wonderful individuals,” Phelps said.

Phelps’ work-study students help on game days by assisting with statistics, video footage, score reporting and any other duties that may arise. There are also work-study individuals who help primarily in the office throughout the year doing various duties such as updating material on the web, archiving records, and sport-specific information.

Sophomore, Paul Gallagher, who is one of Phelps’ work-study students on campus, has taken part in a number of these duties assigned.

“I feel it’s a beneficial work-study job because it’s a great way to learn the names and skills of all the athletes on campus. You also get paid to watch sports and cheer on your peers, so who wouldn’t love that?” Gallagher said.

Senior Jordan Henningsen is currently doing an internship for the Sports Information Office. Henningsen’s duties range from updating the campus website, entering statistics and results, and writing previews and recaps of recent games and events.

“My favorite part of the internship is getting to be working around athletics, something that I have a passion for, but also working along with Steven has been one of the highlights. He’s a good mentor and is always willing to answer questions or help in any way,” Henningsen said.

Although Gallagher and Henningsen see the many perks of working for the Sports Information Office, there are challenging times as well. Gallagher noted that the most challenging part was getting started and learning the ropes.

“After you get the hang of it, taking stats is not hard, and Steven really trusts you to do most of the work on your own,” Gallagher said.

Henningsen also noted that keeping all of the materials for every sport in-line such as documents, records, stats, and rosters from every season for every sport is the most challenging.

“Steven’s system is very organized which makes keeping all of it straight way more effective,” Henningsen said.

Phelps is very grateful for not only Gallagher and Henningsen but also all of his other work-study students and interns.

“We have such great student-athletes here and throughout my time here, all of the work-study and interns I have been fortunate to have work for me, have been absolutely wonderful,” Phelps said. “They are quick learners and very hard-working people that do very good work.”

Photo courtesy of Nic Gibson