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Sprinternship Gives Duke Duo Valuable Experience
8/1/2019 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Lily Hiser, Sports Information Student Assistant
DURHAM, N.C.-- For Duke students, the arrival of summer can mean any number of things. For some, it can mean a well-deserved break from schoolwork or a chance to explore the world. For others, however, it is a chance to pursue an internship, a valuable work experience that provides the stepping stones of a career for many students. This summer, Kyra Lambert and Emily Schubert of the women's basketball squad participated in an internship specifically designed for student-athletes at Fidelity Investments, a financial services company.
The Fidelity internship, which was nicknamed the “Sprinternship” due to the briefness of the program, exposed student-athletes to all the divisions within the company. From cyber security to managerial training, Lambert and Schubert were exposed to a wide variety of skills and areas within the financial world.
Going into the internship, Lambert stated that she had some preconceived notions about what corporate America was like, but after completion of the program, she gained a completely different view of the financial world. One of the things that impressed her the most about the experience was the family feel of the company. No matter his or her level, from associate to senior director, each employee was eager to lend a hand to the interns or share some advice.
Lambert is currently pursuing a Master of Management Studies (MMS) at Duke's Fuqua School of Business and particularly enjoyed participant services as well as shadowing at the vice-presidential level. Since she is already accustomed to working on a team as well as leadership, this drove her interest in the team-like aspect of Fuqua's program. Both of these interests were fulfilled in the vice president position of the shadowing experience because it had a large focus on the human aspect of the financial world.
“The most important things I gained from this experience were seeing the leadership within Fidelity in action and observing all of the moving parts within the company that build their culture,” commented Lambert. “Throughout the Sprinternship, I saw an astounding amount of crossover between sports and the workplace, which gave me more confidence for my future in whatever I choose to pursue. Fidelity motivated me to continue to grow as a leader and to always stay curious, finding new ways to approach tasks and help others.”
Schubert, who is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Economics, enjoyed the opportunity to apply things that she had learned in her classes. Due to her interest in math, she has always had aspirations to work in a consulting position. What really draws her to this occupation, however, is the one-on-one aspect of it. Schubert enjoys the thought of being able to meet face-to-face with her clients, which gives her work a more personal touch. Besides gaining valuable work experience from the internship, Schubert also learned practical lessons about the importance of saving for retirement, as well as networking. Her main takeaway from this program was how crucial networking and the maintenance of relationships were for professional success.
“Building actual relationships, instead of just speaking with someone to check a box for the day is so much more valuable and will help you as you look to move forward in your career,” explained Schubert. “Then you will have people that you know care about you and are willing to help you because they know you would do the same for them.”
As the 2019-20 season approaches, Lambert and Schubert are looking forward to taking what they learned in the offices of Fidelity Investments to the court in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Their teamwork and leadership skills were cultivated, preparing them not only for their future workplaces, but also for their more immediate roles on the basketball court.
“As far as using my Fidelity experience in the future, I know Kyra and myself will be using a lot of different leadership techniques that we used in the workplace in order to adapt to the different communication levels of our teammates,” remarked Schubert. “Truly understanding teammates is the first step, and once we know each other's tendencies and preferences, I think this will really help our team communicate, and essentially, be more successful because not only will we be more efficient in communication, but hopefully this will influence us to play harder for each other.”
Since the internship was specifically designed for student-athletes, an increased emphasis was placed on fostering the interns' leadership and teamwork skills, as these are things both present in and useful to collegiate athletes. Blue Devil fans can look forward to seeing Lambert and Schubert's hard work off the court this summer pay off not only in the fall as the season opens, but even after these players graduate as they pursue professional careers.
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