Program gives students jobs with New York Giants

Working with the top executives and athletes of the New York Giants football team and earning a generous $12,000 grant, however, makes it sound like a dream. Boston College is one of the select institutions in the country invited to participate in this scholarship program, joining the Ivy League ranks of Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, and UPenn as one of nine universities who have participating students. BC has sent a student each of the past three years to the Steamboat Summer Scholar Program.

The Steamboat Foundation was founded by Andrew Walter and Peer Pedersen, two philanthropic hedge-fund entrepreneurs who shared the common goal of helping young people attain internships with some of the nation's leaders in business, journalism, law, medicine, public service, science, sports, and arts and entertainment. Attracted to the applicants' talent pool, low cost, and prestige of the program, employers jumped at the opportunity to place deserving summer interns.

Steamboat, however, selected an elite group of employers who met Walter and Pedersen's high standards of visionary, worthwhile projects and one-on-one mentorship.

The structure of the Steamboat Scholarship pairs prestigious universities with equally eminent organizations. Aside from the Giants, sponsors include Forbes, Inc., Bloomberg News, Hospital for Special Surgery, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, ABC/WPLJ Radio, and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Life as a Steamboat scholar presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities. The Steamboat Foundation strategically places all of its scholars to live together in New York City in the residence halls of The New School. Walter explains that this provides a forum for sharing experiences that are intense, stressful, new, and unique across different industries while also engaging the scholars in an ongoing conversation on leadership.

The scholars attend biweekly leadership dinners with Dr. Tom Inck, a psychologist who works with corporations on leadership and organizational development, where they explore themes ranging from personal values to risk-taking and leadership.

These dinners help strengthen the ties among scholars through discussions on the essential Steamboat values of leadership, work ethic, and willingness to take risks.

Foundation dinners are highlighted by speakers including Dr. James Watson, Nobel Laureate for the discovery of the double helix; Tim Gunn, mentor on Project Runway; and Joshua Shenk, author of Lincoln's Melancholy. These leaders share insight as to how they achieved their status as leaders in their respective fields. These activities are complemented by social activities for the scholars, including sightseeing and baseball games.

BC's slew of Steamboat alumni is distinguished by their demonstrated leadership on campus and strong interest in the field. The first scholarship winner from BC was Emily Ryan, BC '05, who worked with the director of public relations for the New York Football Giants.

A communications major and Kairos leader who worked for the athletic media relations department for men's football, basketball, and hockey at BC, Ryan worked with team officials and players at preseason training on public relations projects, including archive development and writing press releases. Ryan was then offered a job by the Giants after her internship ended.

The second scholarship winner for BC was Chikaelo Ibeabuchi, BC '06, who worked with the Giants' community relations department.

A communications major and officer of the BC African Students Organization, who also co-founded Yeah That's Us Entertainment, Ibeabuchi helped plan community programs and assisted with donations and player appearances to benefit local nonprofit organizations. Ibeabuchi also traveled up to Albany, N.Y., with the Giants to organize and facilitate VIP group visits at training camp.

Most recently, Pete Malone, CSOM '07, represented BC as the Steamboat scholar working in the Giants marketing and sales department. A finance and marketing major, Malone's responsibilities ranged from creating content for giants.com to establishing corporate sponsorship partnerships for the 2006-2007 season.

Malone traveled to spring training where he assisted with corporate sponsor hospitality. "I met nine other really amazing people and had a great time living in New York City with them over the summer. The Steamboat Foundation's creators are the nicest people you could ever hope to meet," said Malone. "They are truly giving people who have truly created something special."

The Steamboat scholarship application includes three requirements, yet none of them stipulate a GPA-cutoff. To apply, an applicant must be a student at one of the participating schools, in his/her third year, and receive some form of financial aid. Joanne Larosee, recruiting manager at the Career Center, encouraged students to apply, even if they do not receive official financial aid from the University. Self-documented financial aid (such as grandparents financing a part of your tuition) is sufficient.

Larosee hopes to see a spike in applications for the upcoming year, she said, because BC students embody Steamboat's vision and ideals.

She believes BC is capable of landing more placements in the program.

More information on the Steamboat Summer Scholar Program, including its application, is available on the Career Center's Web site, bc.edu/offices/careers. An information session will also be held tonight at 5 p.m. in the Career Center, where Pete Malone will share his experience in the program.