Student Spotlight
“The first time I ever heard of Wichita State was when they made their Final Four
run…It definitely put it on the map for me,” said Ethan Green, a graduate student in Sport Management originally from Nelson, British Columbia.
Without the international attention, the Men's Basketball team received in 2013, Ethan,
and many other students may not have heard of Wichita State or learned about the opportunities
here.
Ethan knew he wanted to work in campus recreation, so when researching graduate schools,
he says he looked for “a Competitive Sports position where I could work with both
Intramural and Club Sports, [good] people I would be working for, and [a quality]
Sport Management program.” In 2014, Ethan was hired as the Graduate Assistant for
Competitive Sports at the Heskett Campus Recreation Center and enrolled in the Sport
Management program at Wichita State. Although Ethan was hired as a graduate assistant
for campus recreation, he was eventually named the Interim Coordinator of Competitive
Sports. This is a full-time position, which provides him tremendous experience in
the field which he aspires to work in. His responsibilities include “advis[ing] all
ten sport clubs that are run through Campus Recreation and run[ing] the Intramural
Sports program.” He is assisted by intern Ethan Pearson, a recent graduate of the
Sport Management Undergraduate Program.
While completing his undergraduate degree in Canada, Ethan had an internship and
later full-time position with a collegiate baseball team. After graduation, Ethan's
goal is to “find a full-time job in campus recreation, world events, or back in baseball.”
Ethan's suggestion for students is to get involved and gain as much experience as
possible. “The Sport Management program will give you so many opportunities in and
out of the classroom to get involved, so take advantage of them.” Some other recommendations
that he gives are: “finding a sports job, volunteering and looking to do more through
[the Sport Management] program, go[ing] to the alumni events that they host, volunteer
through class, get involved in SMSA or volunteer in the community.”
Ethan took a risk when he decided to come to a new country to pursue his studies.
He decided to buy a car and drive to Wichita, which took him three full days, but
he says that it was definitely worth it. When asked about the city of Wichita, he
describes it as, “Very different than where I am from, but the people are friendly,
the city isn't too big and [is] nicely spread out, but still close enough to some
of the big cities and the weather is nice and warm.” Ethan was rewarded with his current
position because of the risk he took coming to Wichita State, which gives him a jumpstart
to his career in campus recreation.