Getting to Know You: Jessica Towner
Jessica Towner – Sport Management
Year in school: Senior
Hometown: Walla Walla, Washington
Why are you studying this? What do you hope to do with that after you graduate?
I worked with sports in high school and fell in love with the idea of working in the behind-the-scenes aspect of sport, so I started looking into careers and their majors and found that many of them majored in business or something related to sports. I found out that WSU offered a great Sport Management program and it seemed like a no brainer. I hope to start my career in the hockey industry right after graduation. I have an internship lined up with the Tri-City American Hockey Club to work in their front office and on their promotional team.
Why did you choose WSU?
WSU has the best Sport Management program in the state of Washington, and I knew I wanted to study Sport Management in high school, so it was an easy choice to choose Washington State. It also helped that both my grandparents went to Washington State, and they would tell me stories on how much they loved attending this school. Washington State University is more than a college. It’s a community and a family.
What’s been your favorite part of the WSU experience thus far?
My favorite part of WSU is going to all the sporting events and watching our student body come together and cheer on our athletes. We are like one big family, and it feels so inclusive for everybody there. It does not matter the time of day or day of the week – our student body showed up to support our athletes.
What’s been the biggest challenge so far?
Being away from my family, for sure. My family is a huge part of my life growing up so living away from them was hard on me when I initially moved up here. Even though my hometown is only two hours away, I still missed my family a lot but having them visit and finding and second family up here at WSU helped.
As a college, we’re starting to focus more on our people being agents of change. What makes you an agent of change?
Going into an industry as male dominated as sports is an uphill battle all the time. I want to make a change in sports organizations as a woman and show other females that we can also work in sports. I want to be one of the first female general managers for an NHL team. Getting a degree in sport management is just my first step of a larger plan I have for myself.
Favorites:
Food: Chicken alfredo
Book: Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Song: Forever At All by Luke Combs
Movie: Lilo and Stitch
TV show: MTV The Challenge or Criminal Minds
Place to visit: Boston, Massachusetts
Dream vacation spot: Anywhere in Ireland