Page 34 - N.C. A&T Magazine Spring 2019

athletics

volleYBall’s Wiggins sCores

inTernshiP WiTh nFl Two days after she put in her last application, Wiggins
received an email from the NFL offering an internship
for the Super Bowl working in the broadcast bowl.
North Carolina A&T volleyball player Megan Wiggins Weeks before the big game, she found out the job
received the opportunity of a lifetime in February. It description through a conference call.
was one of those opportunities many dream of but
never see come to reality. “After that conversation, I told myself I don’t really
know what to expect, but I’m going to show up, be
Wiggins was a part of Super Bowl LIII between the professional, do what I’m asked and make the most
New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams. She of this experience,” said Wiggins about her thoughts
worked and covered Super Bowl week as an intern after finding out what her job duties were.
with the National Football League (NFL). The ultimate
prize was attending the game played at Mercedes- Wiggins, along with Zach Bragg, an intern from
Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Hampton University, had to escort various NFL players
to media interviews. In addition, she helped with Radio
Wiggins attended a Careers in Football Forum last Row held at the Georgia World Congress Center in
December. She was one of two student-athletes Atlanta where the Super Bowl media coverage for
to represent N.C. A&T. The forum, hosted by the the week takes place. Her other job duty included
NFL, is held every year during the week of the participating in the NFL Fan experience where player
Celebration Bowl which pits the football conference interviews and different field events take place.
champion of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
(MEAC) against the football conference champion A day before the game, however, Wiggins was
of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) not sure if she could attend the Super Bowl game.
in an HBCU national championship game played at Wiggins received a text Saturday afternoon from a
Mercedes-Benz Stadium. player she worked with during the week. He informed
her that she was granted a media credential and that
Athletes from each school of both conferences were her hard work had not gone unnoticed.
represented at the Celebration Bowl.
“The whole aspect of being there at the game was
“It was all about working your way to a career great. There were four NFL players that we were
with the NFL and what you can do in sports”, said helping out with during the week, so we were with
Wiggins. After I left, while I did network with people, them during all their interviews and were able to
I didn’t feel like I networked enough to reach out to watch the game with them,” said Wiggins.
them personally. So, what I did was take three days
and put together a good resume and I applied for Wiggins, who is pursuing a degree in journalism
everything. I just took some time to focus on just and mass communications with a concentration
doing that.” in multimedia, plans to attend graduate school for
film with her sights on owning her own production
When she got home after the N.C. A&T’s 24-22 win company. The opportunity to work the Super Bowl
over Alcorn State in the Celebration Bowl, Wiggins was a stepping stone in that direction.
immediately began applying for all the opportunities
with the NFL that she learned about from the forum. “Being in a position to network and talk with
different people that you wouldn’t normally be
Her efforts were not in vain. around and interact with, was huge,” said Wiggins.

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