Melissa Eickhoff
The CEO of Pikes Peak International Hill Climb offered valuable career insight recently to students in Sport Management courses.
Melissa Eickhoff, who leads the country’s second oldest motorsports race in America, discussed her career journey as well as internship opportunities offered by her company with students enrolled in SPMG 210: Principles of Sport Management and SPMG 428: Marketing and Public Relations in Sport Management.
Also known as “The Race to the Clouds,” the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is an annual automobile hill climb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado that attracts top drivers and riders from around the world.
“It made me think that maybe I want to go into the sports management field after graduation. I never thought someone like me would be able to get into a field like this, but after hearing her speak it really piqued my interest,” said Allie Masterson, a senior from Lancaster, NY.
Ms. Masterson, a Communication: Public Relations major with a minor in Criminal Justice, found it very interesting to compare what students learn in class with a real-life example. “Overall, I thought it was a really great experience and opportunity for our class and myself,” she said.
Jordan Oji, a senior Psychology major with a minor in Sport Management from London, England, also found Ms. Eickhoff’s presentation to be interesting, as it is a field of sport management that he’d like to join.
Eickhoff provided insight into what it takes to be the CEO of a major motorsports event, Mr. Oji said. She also described relationships the event has with different sponsors.
“She taught me that in the sports world there is nothing more important than networking,” added Jaivon Eggleston, who has majors in Sport Management and Theatre Arts. The contributions that hard work and due diligence make to create opportunities also resonated with Mr. Eggleston.
The challenges and difficulties of putting on a race held on a highway were also noted, Eggleston said, as well as the need to have back up plans for back up plans.
Eickhoff also discussed numerous odd jobs associated with her position that she gradually learned that were challenging and also advanced her career, ultimately leading to her current position, said Mason Neale, a Sport Management major with a minor in Communication.
“I really enjoyed listening to her talk about what she does at this race, how she is constantly working on it; she deals with a million problems but somehow always gets the job done,” noted Mr. Neale, a junior from Holley, NY.
Applied Professional Studies Associate Professor Sungick Min found Eickhoff’s talk to be helpful to his classes and his students.
