Megan Zniewski graduated from the School of Kinesiology in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in Sport management. After graduating, Zniewski moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where she worked for the Green Bay Packers as an intern in their broadcast digital and game entertainment department. 

The next stage of her career brought her back home to Minnesota, where she is now working for the University of St. Thomas athletics department as assistant director of marketing.

“Right now, St. Thomas is transitioning from D-III to D-I athletics. So we’re mapping out how we want the athletics department to look, and I am specifically working with women’s basketball, men’s basketball, volleyball, women’s soccer, baseball, cross country, and swim and dive. So anything marketing that happens related to game presentation or community outreach, falls under my title.”

“That’s when we realized we’re not going to get the ending we had pictured. It was just not the way that you would imagine graduating and going off into the real world”

Although Zniewski has now found her place in the industry, getting to this point in her career was no ordinary path due to the unprecedented ramifications of the pandemic. Zniewski recalls when she realized how big of an impact COVID-19 would have on the rest of her time at the University and her post-graduate life.

“It was very scary. We were all on spring break at the time when everything was happening. I feel like the moment we figured out this is serious, and we’re not going back, was when everything started to get cancelled. I was working with Gopher Sports Marketing. All of our home sporting events got cancelled, and people kept pushing it out, but then two weeks turned into forever. So that’s when we realized this is over, and we’re not going to get the ending that we had pictured. It just was not the way that you would imagine graduating and going off into the real world.”

As for most, Zniewski found the pandemic difficult to navigate, but still looked for the positives, despite how small they were. “You know, you don’t get the finality of your senior year and you don’t get those last two weeks before graduation and spending all that time with your friends. So it was definitely difficult to stay positive. Finding new ways to interact with people over Zoom and FaceTime, and trying to keep things as normal as possible, was so important. With my job with Gopher Sports Marketing, we did a weekly meet up with everyone over Zoom. So it was good to just see everyone’s faces. Quarantine was such a weird time, and just finding lights in my day definitely helped me.”

“Finding new ways to interact with people…and trying to keep things as normal as possible, was so important.”

Not only did the pandemic throw a wrench in Zniewski’s final semester at the U of M, but it also had a considerable impact on her job opportunities as she was entering the workforce. “Previously, before things blew up, I was getting a lot of interviews with a lot of different teams in a lot of different places. The application processes were paused or shut down, or you were maybe doing an interview, but there was no guarantee that they were going to continue on. It changed the trajectory of what I wanted to do. The sports industry was so heavily affected, and I needed to make some kind of money. It definitely had me questioning, is this the right path for me and how long am I going to have to wait to pursue this type of career?”

Despite the difficulties of the pandemic, Zniewski was able to continue working on the Gopher Sports Marketing team after graduation until she was able to land a position with the Green Bay Packers in July. To gain this position, she had to tackle an unfamiliar hiring process. “Traditionally, a lot of internships would have you go to their physical offices to interview. But my entire process was virtual. I had actually been in the process with them in February of 2020 for a different internship. I had my foot in the door that way. But it definitely was nerve wracking interviewing with an NFL team. I think the most difficult part was knowing when I was going to be able to move. The timeline was probably the most difficult part after I was offered the job.”

Early on in her career, Zniewski found it difficult to find her place. “I think a challenge that I faced with the Packers at the time was finding ways to make myself useful to them. In the normal season, my job would have been so heavily involved with everything that goes on for the fan experience like flyovers, halftime performances, drumline, etc. And a lot of that fan engagement stuff we didn’t have because we didn’t have full stadiums. So making sure I put myself out there and making myself known as a jack of all trades, was a difficult thing for sure, especially working for an NFL team.”

“In the normal season, my job would have been so heavily involved with everything that goes on for the fan experience like flyovers, halftime performances, drumline, etc. And a lot of that fan engagement stuff we didn’t have.”

After going through the peaks and valleys of starting her career and coming out on the other side, Zniewski is now able to give insights to the next group of graduates who are bound to go through a similar experience. “The job market is crazy right now. Don’t settle for something that you don’t want to do. If you don’t think it’s a good fit, and if you are not enjoying your job, look inward. My degree is so specific. But looking at my degree and what classes I took, there’s definitely different branches that you can take with different careers. Take your time. And during the interview process, make sure you ask all the questions that you want answered.”

“Don’t settle for something you don’t want to do.”

Lastly, Zniewski advises students to use the School of Kinesiology network to their benefit, even after graduating. “Even to this day, I reached out to one of my professors for a letter of recommendation, and I took her class three years ago. Your professors are more than willing to help you if you stay in contact with them and utilize your resources. The School of Kinesiology has a really great program where it feels pretty small, but it’s also so wide.”