NCAA internship helped vault UConn’s Maddie Arndt into athletics career

When Maddie Arndt remembers her NCAA postgraduate internship, she vividly recalls standing on stage with her fellow interns at the office holiday party. 

There, in front of the NCAA's 500 employees, the future leaders in the sports industry modeled the present staff was about to receive: NCAA-branded headphones.

"It was probably the most embarrassing moment of all of our lives," the 2019 intern said. "But I will never forget the bonding experience we had in order to do that. … Any time we got to work together as an intern cohort was extremely fun."

Arndt, a former pole vault student-athlete at Manhattan, cherished the moments of teamwork and camaraderie the internship provided.

"The internship was instrumental in my development as a professional, not only with the skills that I obtained but in my personal life with the transition to no longer being a student- athlete."

In college, Arndt served on the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, representing the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which led her to apply and accept a position in DII governance as a postgraduate intern. Entering the program, Arndt knew she wanted to be in an external role involving work with communications, marketing and digital media.

In her role in governance, Arndt was responsible for supporting the membership's decision-making bodies, specifically the Presidents Council, Management Council and the DII National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She also took part in planning multiple DII national championships, strategic social media campaigns and leadership development programming for student-athletes across all divisions.

Arndt took advantage of the NCAA's network of professionals. Throughout the yearlong internship, she spoke with various athletics directors and leaders in the sports industry.

"Through those conversations, I realized (a career in) development would be a good fit for me with not only my personality but what I was interested in, which was helping provide the student-athlete experience while communicating that out to donors and fans and ticket holders."

This clarity guided Arndt to the Yale athletics department as an assistant director for development and engagement. Two years later, she followed her boss from Yale to UConn, where she currently works as director of development operations.

As Arndt excels in her career, she draws on the lessons she learned as a student-athlete, an aspect of professional development that the postgraduate internship emphasizes. 

"I touch back into my experience as a student-athlete (daily), the emotions I felt, the people I talked to, the committees that I sat on as a student-athlete. It helps me do my job better when giving perspective to others that work for me but also leading and figuring out what our direction is and what we're trying to accomplish on campus."

Arndt also values the opportunities and experiences the postgraduate internship provided as a takeoff point for her professional career.

"The experience that I had (at the NCAA) will be directly correlated to the success that I have in my career. Getting off on the right foot is important to help kind of spearhead where I'm going," Arndt said. "I owe that to the postgrad internship."

Ultimately, Arndt said the most valuable aspect of the internship was the relationships she built with her intern class. Whether through modeling headphones in front of the entire office staff, working on projects together or spending time outside of work, Arndt cherishes the lifelong friendships she left Indianapolis with.

"The work that I did at the NCAA was very eye-opening, as well as helpful in what I'm doing now. But what is more important, I think, was the relationships I made in that building," she said. "It's very special of an internship to be a part of."

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