Kody Emmert ’12 has been hired as an assistant buyer in the hunting department in the corporate offices of Academy Sports + Outdoors in Katy, TX.
Nearing graduation, Emmert began meeting with Tom Stallings, who oversees the Career Development for the Rice Sport Management Program. It became clear early that Emmert’s passion was with outdoor sports like hunting and fishing. The Sport management Program has an excellent relationship with Academy Sports + Outdoors so Stallings was able to introduce Emmert to Academy’s corporate management which began the process.
“Working at Academy is a great fit,” Emmert said. “I am glad that I have found an awesome job that I enjoy wholeheartedly. This is right up my alley.”
After meeting with Stallings, a professor in the Sport Management Department, I realized the amount of support and care that is given towards the graduates and current students of this program. Stallings described to me how “we try to get to know our students thoroughly and try to line them up with the best possible internships and jobs.” This explains why such a high percentage of Sports Management graduates end up in successful positions. In Emmert’s case, Stallings saw how passionate and knowledgeable he was about the outdoors and saw this job as “the perfect fit” for Emmert.
Trey Briggs, a junior from Houston, Texas, is majoring in Sport Management.