With fans around the world watching, a group of East Stroudsburg University sport management majors played a big-league role in\u00a0one of\u00a0Major League Baseball\u2019s\u00a0most\u00a0powerful\u00a0All-Star Game traditions\u00a0earlier this month.<\/p>\n
During the Midsummer Classic on July 14 at Citizen\u2019s Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa.,\u00a0the group of 20 students\u00a0helped\u00a0coordinate\u00a0Stand Up\u00a0To\u00a0Cancer\u2019s annual in-game\u00a0tribute to\u00a0those\u00a0affected\u00a0by cancer.<\/p>\n
Held during every All-Star Game and World Series Game 4 since 2009,\u00a0the\u00a0tribute sees the entire ballpark come to a stop\u00a0for two minutes of silence\u00a0as fans,\u00a0players,\u00a0and\u00a0all those in attendance\u00a0hold up placards\u00a0with\u00a0the name\u00a0of someone they know who\u00a0is affected by cancer\u00a0written on them. The campaign is a major fundraiser toward Stand Up\u00a0To\u00a0Cancer\u2019s efforts to raise funds for cancer research.<\/p>\n
The students\u2019 job was to\u00a0help deliver the\u00a0blank\u00a0placards to seats throughout the ballpark\u00a0before the gates opened, ensuring\u00a0tens of\u00a0thousands of fans had the opportunity to show their support\u00a0by\u00a0participating.<\/p>\n
Noah Keen, a\u00a0sport management major\u00a0from\u00a0Downingtown, Pa.,\u00a0hand-delivered\u00a0placards\u00a0to over 1,000 seats before joining his classmates at a table where\u00a0additional\u00a0cards were available to fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that table,\u00a0I heard so many stories and witnessed many different emotions,\u201d Keen said.\u00a0\u201cThere were some tears, but also some\u00a0celebration\u00a0as some cancer survivors created a card for themselves. As someone who has been affected by cancer in my life, I was able to empathize with them and that made my day completely worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opportunity was\u00a0organized\u00a0by Kyle Brannigan, Ph.D., assistant professor of sport management, through a connection with Major League Baseball and USA Marketing, which partners with the league,\u00a0Stand Up\u00a0To\u00a0Cancer, and MasterCard\u00a0to host the televised tribute.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelping students break into the industry and\u00a0get\u00a0to see how cool\u00a0it is\u00a0working in sports\u00a0is my passion, so getting to provide students with this opportunity means the world to me,\u201d Dr. Brannigan said.<\/p>\n
Opportunities like these were what\u00a0drew\u00a0Keen to ESU\u2019s sport management program\u00a0in the first place, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen comparing ESU\u2019s program to other institutions I was interested in, nobody came close to the\u00a0amount\u00a0of connections and overall success that I was looking for,\u201d\u00a0Keen\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cESU had everything I was looking for in terms of a successful department with professors that\u00a0help\u00a0you reach your end goal. Participating in events like this has given ESU a great reputation, not only for the students but for the entire sport management program.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to their roles at the All-Star Game, the group also\u00a0participated\u00a0in another marketing effort\u00a0the day before at\u00a0the Home Run Derby. There, the group helped distribute light-up bracelets for an interactive light show that was held during the event, which was broadcast on Netflix.<\/p>\n
Working\u00a0high-profile professional sporting events like\u00a0the\u00a0All-Star Game and Home Run Derby\u00a0helped students like Vinny Celona,\u00a0a sport management major\u00a0from Bangor, Pa., develop even\u00a0stronger\u00a0skills in\u00a0communication,\u00a0customer service, and working under pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe experience strengthened my confidence in working in a fast-paced, professional environment and reinforced that a career in sports is what I want to pursue,\u201d Celona said.\u00a0\u201cIt taught me the importance of teamwork, adaptability, and attention to detail while also allowing me to expand my professional network.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon Evans, a sport management major from\u00a0Tobyhanna, Pa.,\u00a0said one of\u00a0his biggest takeaways was that even a small role in a marketing\u00a0activation event\u00a0can make\u00a0a big impact\u00a0overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe this experience prepared me in great ways for the future, from understanding the importance of even the minor roles within projects, to having a broader aspect of the intricate things that go into making an idea come to life,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n
Adding to the\u00a0excitement of the experience, this year\u2019s All-Star festivities were being held as Philadelphia was\u00a0featured prominently\u00a0in the\u00a0United States\u00a0Semiquincentennial\u00a0celebration\u00a0and as Lincoln Financial Field,\u00a0located\u00a0next to the ballpark,\u00a0hosted\u00a0World Cup matches.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0fanfare\u00a0and excitement\u00a0made for a truly\u00a0unforgettable\u00a0experience, Keen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn opportunity like this for ESU students like me is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience,\u201d Keen said.<\/p>\n
Additional sport management majors who participated in the events were, Lucas Battison\u00a0Brook Brittain,\u00a0Noah Dougherty, Gavin Ehlman,\u00a0Justin Hill,\u00a0Kyle Johnson,\u00a0Maxwell Kochenash, Josh Konya, Gianna Mascaro, Justin\u00a0Mclendon,\u00a0Dylan Miller, Kirsten Nelson,\u00a0Alex Sands,\u00a0Mason Scott,\u00a0Thequoan\u00a0Sebro,\u00a0Andrew Warzynski,\u00a0and\u00a0Jon Wright.<\/p>\n
Watch this year\u2019s\u00a0Stand Up To Cancer moment<\/a>\u00a0from the 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Game\u00a0or learn more about ESU\u2019s\u00a0sport management program<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During the Midsummer Classic on July 14 at Citizen\u2019s Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa.,\u00a0the group of 20 students\u00a0helped\u00a0coordinate\u00a0Stand Up\u00a0To\u00a0Cancer\u2019s annual in-game\u00a0tribute to\u00a0those\u00a0affected\u00a0by cancer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":25046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25044"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25044"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25048,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25044\/revisions\/25048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}