This past weekend I, along with 4 other students took a trip down to Bradenton, Florida to visit IMG Academy and help work the first Bradenton Area Riverwalk Regatta. The trip was sponsored through the Center, and was from Thursday Feb. 5th to Sunday Feb. 8th. Myself, Nick Turgeon, Matthew Veseleny, Jessica Martin and Micky Haney were chosen to attend the trip to Bradenton Florida.
The first day we arrived around noon and had a few meetings to prep for the Regatta on Saturday and also to prepare for our trip to IMG Academy. The second day we woke up and went to IMG Academy where we had lunch with Dan Tierney, who is the Marketing Manager for IMG Performance at IMG Academy. Lunch with Dan was very insightful and he had a lot of great advice for us when it came to searching for internships and job hunting. We then met up with Josh Piodias who is the Event Manager at IMG Academy and he took us on a tour of the 500 acre campus. The academy has students ranging from Kindergarten to 12th grade. They are all there for one of 8 sports that the academy offers. (Baseball, Golf, Tennis, Basketball, Soccer, Football, Lacrosse, Track and Field) The students at the academy have around 4 hours of schooling a day and then close to 6 hours of training in there respective sport. The academy is not for the faint of heart, but has great results. 98% of IMG Academy students go on to play College Athletics and 60% of them go on to play division 1. The Academy is located in Bradenton Florida and costs around $70,000 a year. It is a very diverse school and is constantly expanding.
The following day was the Regatta. Nick and myself were assigned to work the “Kids Zone”. We helped out two of the Regatta’s top sponsors, The Pittsburgh Pirates and Bright House. The Regatta was a huge success, it was estimated that we had close to 100,000 people at the event. The event had entertainment including, Jefferson Starship and Sam Woolf, as well as XPogo competitions and BMX star Chris Clark. The main events were the F1 boat races and the jet ski. The finale was a Zambelli Fireworks show. The show was such a success that they are gonna do it again next year.
The final day was nothing more than congratulations and goodbyes. The trip was a success for all of us, the connections and experiences we had were very beneficial. If anyone is interested in doing these kind of things make sure to get involved with the center!
John Mrozinski
SAEM, Sophomore
Student Advisory Board Member
The first day we arrived around noon and had a few meetings to prep for the Regatta on Saturday and also to prepare for our trip to IMG Academy. The second day we woke up and went to IMG Academy where we had lunch with Dan Tierney, who is the Marketing Manager for IMG Performance at IMG Academy. Lunch with Dan was very insightful and he had a lot of great advice for us when it came to searching for internships and job hunting. We then met up with Josh Piodias who is the Event Manager at IMG Academy and he took us on a tour of the 500 acre campus. The academy has students ranging from Kindergarten to 12th grade. They are all there for one of 8 sports that the academy offers. (Baseball, Golf, Tennis, Basketball, Soccer, Football, Lacrosse, Track and Field) The students at the academy have around 4 hours of schooling a day and then close to 6 hours of training in there respective sport. The academy is not for the faint of heart, but has great results. 98% of IMG Academy students go on to play College Athletics and 60% of them go on to play division 1. The Academy is located in Bradenton Florida and costs around $70,000 a year. It is a very diverse school and is constantly expanding.
The following day was the Regatta. Nick and myself were assigned to work the “Kids Zone”. We helped out two of the Regatta’s top sponsors, The Pittsburgh Pirates and Bright House. The Regatta was a huge success, it was estimated that we had close to 100,000 people at the event. The event had entertainment including, Jefferson Starship and Sam Woolf, as well as XPogo competitions and BMX star Chris Clark. The main events were the F1 boat races and the jet ski. The finale was a Zambelli Fireworks show. The show was such a success that they are gonna do it again next year.
The final day was nothing more than congratulations and goodbyes. The trip was a success for all of us, the connections and experiences we had were very beneficial. If anyone is interested in doing these kind of things make sure to get involved with the center!
John Mrozinski
SAEM, Sophomore
Student Advisory Board Member