Marshall University’s College of Health Professions is providing global internship opportunities for its students during the 2017-18 winter season at YongPyong Resort in South Korea – a venue hosting the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic ski and snowboard events.
Two students in the college’s Department of Sport Management will have the chance to work exclusively with Dr. Seong-ik Baek, a supervisor in the Yongpyong Resort’s Snowboard School. Kade Sebastian, 19, of Huntington, and Takuya Endo, 20, of Japan, will depart for South Korea Sunday, Dec. 17, for three months.
This is the first collaboration of its kind between Yongpyong Resort and an American university, according to Dr. Wanyong Choi, an assistant professor at Marshall and director of the department’s Sport Data Analysis Center.
Dr. Michael Prewitt, dean of the College of Health Professions, said these students will serve as interns for the snowboarding and skiing Olympic events held YongPyong Resort.
“Korea is known for hosting four mega-sporting events such as the World Cup, International Track and Field and the Summer Olympics,” Prewitt said. “Having insight into the cultural differences within the world of sport management is going to open so many doors for them. With Dr. Baek’s leadership and expertise, we have no doubt that our students will have meaningful experiences that will shape their careers forever.”
Students will earn six college credit hours with this internship opportunity and will be able to complete the rest of their classes online while abroad. In addition to the college credit, both Sebastian and Endo will both receive an international snowboarding instructor certification that can be used in any country in the world. Housed in the college’s School of Kinesiology, the faculty of the Department of Sport Management hopes to offer similar internships for its students in the future.
For more information on internship opportunities in the College of Health Professions, visit www.marshall.edu/cohp online.
