McElveen also organized an impressive labor force from the current students of St. Andrews University. Over 35 students would be in Raleigh each day to volunteer for whatever needed to be done for Nationals to run smoothly. McElveen and Professor Corrine Nicholson, Chair of the Business and Economics Department started planning for this in November 2011 during spring registration. Student interns were nominated by the equestrian staff for consideration and the final short list was approved by the Director of Academic Internships, Professor Nicholson, after careful review of previous academic performance. The planning did not stop there. Students were given the responsibility to talk to the Professors they would be studying with in the spring and ask for their permission to miss the last week of classes and very probably reschedule finals to accommodate their IHSA Internship. Students were not only working the show, but both the hunter seat and the western teams qualified to represent Zone 4 so some would be competing also. The appendix contains the names of the students that were involved as interns, volunteers and competitors. “We are so lucky that this school is so supportive of our equestrian program. We would not have been able to do it without the support of the administration and the faculty,” said McElveen.
The selected nine students served as interns for the duration of the competition and spent a full eight days in Raleigh. Other students volunteered their time around their class schedule. The interns had specific jobs throughout the competition and assisted in the packing, transportation, setup, running, taking down and cleanup of the event. Jameson Crandall was one of the interns and recalls the packing process, “The two days before we left Laurinburg were spent packing several of the equestrian program’s large horse trailers with supplies, decorations, equipment and plenty of other items that were necessary for putting on the national championship. When packing was complete, I believe Peggy had accumulated two six-horse trailers full of items plus a smaller trailer all with things we used to host the competition.”
Crandall continued to talk about some of his responsibilities at the competition. “Over the seven days interns had the opportunity to work side by side with industry level professionals such as the professional horse show manager, professional course designer, seasoned barn managers and instructors, IHSA founder Bob Cacchione, as well as chairpersons and board members from the IHSA and coaches from across the country. Event management in any industry, but especially in our industry, consists of long days and nights and little rest. Our days began on average around 5:00 every morning and ended around 10:00 in the evening. There were tasks to be done every minute of every day throughout the eight days that we were in Raleigh.” When asked about what he learned from the experience Crandall was quick to respond. “Developing the ability to work side-by-side with literally hundreds of others; interns worked with other interns, volunteers, professionals, competitors, coaches, spectators, and vendors. At times this was challenging and “different” but it was another learning experience that I am grateful for. The best thing about the experience was getting to be involved in literally every aspect of event management for a National Championship horse show. For two days I worked with Laura Norment who served as the volunteer coordinator. For two other days I worked side-by-side with Mr. Billy the professional horse show manager. One of the days I worked with Audrey and Mrs. Hayden in the awards room and one day I worked with Jennifer Sansbury who was the professional barn manager for the week. We were constantly involved in all of those aspects of running a horse show plus others that I am sure I haven’t mentioned.”
Each intern was an integral part of the organization and was exposed to all aspects of the show, from working with the barn manager to serving as personal assistant to Bob Cacchione. “I truly feel like our equestrian program put on that event, not the staff, it was not the Hunter Seat team, it truly was this entire program” noted McElveen. “I was truly blessed to be able to call on so many people to help with this amazing event. Without any one of them it would not as have been as successful as it was,” she said.
Students Involved in the Organization of the 2012 IHSA Nationals
Algieri, Tara
Barasch, Regina
Burkey, Tori
Chrzandowski, Chandalyn
Cram, Kali
Cram, Sami
Crandall, Jameson
DiPillo, Mia
Edwards, Madison
Eld, Michelle
Fullerton, Alexandra
Glaff, Cami
Graves, Kimberly
Gritzuk, Tyler
Hackney, Sara
Hansen, Katie
Hoey, Park
Hustad, Michelle
Karolak, Caitlin
Kozlowski, Shiloh
Kramer, Paula
Leggett, Shannon
Lishen, Sarah
McBath, Kayla
McDermott, Dugan
McDowell, Catherine
McGraw, Alie
Mentzel, Katie
Mosca, Katie
Napoleone, Nikki
Nix, Jake
Powell, Brittany
Skillman, Abi
Stumberg, Catherine
Teeter, Logan
Tito, Andrea
Todd, Hillary
Van Den Heuvel, Keli
Williams, Sarah
Wright, Miranda
Students Competing in the 2012 IHSA Nationals
Thursday, May 3 – Katie Hansen, Alie McGraw, Sami Cram
Thursday, May 3 – Kayla McBath, Kali Cram, Katie Hansen, Sami Cram
Friday, May 2 – Kali Cram, Katie Hansen
Friday, May 2 – Shannon Leggett, Katie Hansen, Brittany Powell, Miranda Wright, Shiloh Kozlowski
Saturday, May 3 – Katie Hansen, Shannon Leggett
Saturday, May 3 – Dugan McDermott
Sunday, May 4 – Kali Cram, Shannon Leggett, Kate Mosca
Sunday, May 4 – Michelle Hustad, Amber Powell, Shannon Leggett
Social Media Intern, Kimberly Graves, took on the challenge of documenting the planning and organization of the IHSA National Championships that we hosted in Raleigh, NC last May.
Part 7 recognized the Alumni and Friends of the St. Andrews Program. Next week Part 9 will wrap up this series with the conclusion.
