During Rice’s 112th Commencement ceremony, Tom Nitao ‘25 was honored with the Outstanding Senior Award. This award is presented by the Student Association and recognizes two students who have contributed to excellence at Rice University through performance, service, dedication, and character.
“It's an honor,” said Nitao, who double-majored in Sport Management and also Business. “When I came into college I wouldn't have expected to be where I'm at. I came in with a dream to work in the sport industry, and the last four years have given me an opportunity to do exactly that and meet a lot of good people along the way.”
According to the email Nitao received announcing his achievement, this award often shines a light on students whose quiet leadership and steady commitment might otherwise go unrecognized.
“Your presence on this campus has made a difference, and it has not gone unnoticed,” read the email from Student Association Internal Vice President Sohani Sandhu.
Nitao started helping with Rice's football team during his freshman year as a video intern and worked his way up to a leadership position quickly. When Nitao realized there was only one other student on the video staff, he decided to start recruiting.
“I was able to contact the professors, get a list of everybody who was in the class of ’25, just went down it and gave everybody a call,” Nitao said. “By the end of that semester, we had 10 students on staff.”
After just one semester at Rice, Nitao received a promotion to Football Recruiting Analyst. At the beginning Nitao was not only recruiting students, but also trying to show his superiors that undergraduate students could be relied upon to do strong work for them.
“I wanted to prove to the staff that undergraduates can be relied upon,” Nitao said. “And then as that role evolved it, became about 'how can we create something that can last after I'm gone?'”
With a goal of giving Rice undergraduates a place to thrive in continuity while working for the football team, Nitao created a role for himself as the Student Director of Recruiting & Player Personnel. There he oversaw 22 student interns and developed projects for them. He also scouted more than 1,500 high school and college football players.
“At times, half of my staff didn't select football as their first priority sport,” Nitao said. “But the reason why they joined is because they were looking at some of their other options and realized the access to work, the culture that we created, those were things that they resonated with. Those were values that sort of pushed them to stay with our organization.”
Nitao started his journey at Rice Football with a cohesive plan and an opportunity to make a difference. With the Outstanding Senior Award and an improved football intern program as proof, Nitao did exactly what he planned. Nitao said his advice to others who want to make a difference is to go for it.
“I'd encourage anybody who wants to replicate something similar to what I did to analyze what their landscape looks like, and then figure out how you can be of genuine service to the people around you,” Nitao said.
Now with graduation behind him, Nitao has been hired by the University of Nevada as a Football Player Personnel Analyst. In this role, he works in several areas including recruiting, scouting, roster forecasting, and NIL allocation.
Kathleen Ortiz, an incoming senior from Kingwood, Texas, is studying Social Policy Analysis and Sport Management with a concentration in Sport Law.