Students Gain Event Management Experience While Supporting Keystone Mission

Students from Dr. Ovidiu Cocieru’s Sports Event Management course hosted the University’s annual SoccerFest Event at Fitzpatrick Field on Saturday, May 3.

The event brought local teams from surrounding middle and high schools together for a series of charity matches benefiting the Keystone Mission. Each team was separated into a division that provided fair pairings based on age and skill set.

The students spent the spring semester learning all aspects of event management, from the initial organization and funding through marketing, ticket sales and registration.

“For me, the most rewarding part of SoccerFest was seeing the event come to life. After weeks of planning and preparation, it was incredible to watch our hard work pay off,” Reagan Dolan ’25, a management major said.  “We faced challenges — including weather issues and tight timelines — but we adapted and made it happen.”

One of the most significant challenges the group faced was recruiting enough teams for each division. Dolan said that the SoccerFest planning team initially sought to create five divisions for teams to compete in, but further evaluation of their resources dropped the count to four.

“That change in particular taught me the importance of flexibility and clear communication,” Dolan said. “Adjusting that initial plan, no matter how nervous it may have made us at the time, didn’t take away from the success of the day—it strengthened it.”

Seventeen teams, undaunted by bleak weather forecasts for that weekend, turned out at the event to have fun for a cause.

For the class instructor, the most important achievement of the event was watching his students help the local community and garner the skills taught in his class.

“It’s one of the most rewarding experiences of the term to see how much my students have grown and learned from running this event,” Dr. Cocieru said. “It’s only made better by the fact that they are having a positive impact on the community.”

For Dolan, the course came at an apropos time. As a four-year member of the University’s field hockey team, team captain during his last year, and a lifelong athlete looking to build a career in the sports industry, he found the insights garnered by the course invaluable to his future growth.

“It gave me a whole new perspective. I’ve always shown up to games ready to play, without realizing the amount of effort and coordination it takes behind the scenes to run an event,” Dolan said. “Being on the operations side helped me appreciate the planning, teamwork and communication involved. I now feel more prepared for real-world responsibilities like team meetings, professional phone calls, and interviews — and I’m excited to bring this experience into my future career in sports.”

Keystone Mission is an Evangelical, faith-based non-profit organization that seeks to share the hope of the Gospels by providing food, clothing, social services and select programming to at-need individuals.