Our efforts throughout the year culminate in our Annual Draft Day Weekend, where we celebrate our newly selected interns, and prepare them for their summer internships. Day 1 of the weekend is our Draft Day Banquet, where we treat our interns and contributing donors to dinner, and celebrate the organization's accomplishments. Day 2 of the event is our Summer Intern Mini-Camp, where our interns participate in a full-day professional development program.
Session topics include:
On Day 1, we invite our donors, newly selected interns, and members of the MAP community and friends to our annual banquet to celebrate a year's worth of hard work. We use this time to recognize the achievements of our incoming internship class, present our interns with their financial aid packages, and also educate donors on our unique impact and cause. Donors get a chance to meet our interns for the first time and also get to meet the entire MAP team.
A unique benefit for students participating in the Front Office Internship Program is our coaching program. We assign each intern to a set of coaches from the MAP network. These coaches provide interns with on-going mentorship and guidance during their summer internship experience. During dinner, we introduce students to their set of coaches and also tell them where they "matched" and will be spending their summers.
Day 1 of the Weekend will conclude in a keynote address—to be delivered by a respected professional in the sports and entertainment industry. Our keynote speaker will close the night by summarizing Make-A-Play's core mission. The speaker will also encourage continued support of the organization and its aims, and urge students to break down new barriers in the sports and entertainment industry, and beyond.
Students who "match" to an internship through the Front Office Internship Program will be required to participate in the Foundation's Mini-Camp on Day 2, which will function as a Student Intern Orientation and Professional Skills Workshop. MAP will provide students with the resources and guidance to maximize their internships and prepare for careers in the sports and entertainment industry, and beyond.
Our interns get to have some fun during the second half of Day 2! A professional photographer will take multiple photos of our interns in different outfits and holding various sports equipment. Getting to this stage of the process is an accomplishment in and of itself. As such, our interns will get a chance to experience some of the perks associated with being in the sports and entertainment industry, among others.
Students will also get a chance to get their professional headshots taken. As important as a professional headshot is to landing a job, many students still rely on poor quality headshots. Our photographers use high-resolution cameras and lenses to ensure that all student-photographs are visually appealing and that our students will be able to stand out from the crowd and use these photographs across their different professional networks.