DURHAM- The Sport Career Club held over 90 students, a multimedia reporter and three collegiate athletic directors to Paul College for the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) first ever Wildcat Sports Seminar. 

Held on April 5, the seminar contained multiple segments that focused on different jobs in the field of sports. The guest speakers gave their insight on the career path while answering questions from the club. The audience was also able to ask their questions through a QR code given to them when they first arrived. 

Guests were first welcomed to the seminar by the Dean of Paul College, Lucy Gilson, who is a former collegiate athlete herself. The greetings continued with president of the club, fourth year business administration major, Mia McAuliffe. 

McAuliffe has been with the club since she was a freshman, sticking with it through COVID-19. Knowing this was going to be her last semester, McAuliffe wanted to try something new in creating the seminar. 

“This isn’t something I’ve ever done before. It’s my first time putting on a big event like this. There’s a lot of planning that went into it… Like how do we want to set it up? Where are we going to get the food, who do we want to speak?” said McAuliffe. 

When discussing who should speak at the seminar, established UNH alumni television news and sports reporter Natalie Noury was an obvious choice. Noury graduated in 2021 and currently works at ABC6 News in Providence, Rhode Island as a multimedia journalist. Her resume also includes working as a reporter for Hockey East, NESN, the Boston Bruins and Fox21 News in Duluth, Minnesota. 

Noury was the first guest to speak at the seminar during the fireside chat hosted by UNH’s Associate Director for Marketing and Communications Mike Murphy, who also happened to be one of Noury’s mentors while at UNH. The audience watched the two’s dynamic as they reminisced on their old times together while Murphy asked Noury questions about her career’s journey. Noury spent time explaining her career path from her first experience at UNH, to becoming a full time news reporter, and all of the lessons she learned in between. 

While at UNH, Noury was a communication major with a minor in sports studies. She participated as a student intern in sports media, sideline football reporter and rinkside men’s hockey reporter. Noury spent the majority of her time in the athletic areas on campus, which is one of the things she misses the most about UNH. 

“The majority of my life was at the Whitt… I spent so many nights in silence alone there… my last game before I moved to Minnesota… It was emotional because this was kinda the place that built me,” said Noury.

Along with the Whitt, Noury also mentioned how supportive the  UNH community was, which is another thing she misses dearly. 

“I had such a support circle here and I still have such a support system here. But when you go into the real world, and you go on your own and have your own career, it can be lonely. It can be really lonely and sometimes you can feel lost. Here at college, your support system was always right around you,” said Noury. 

Noury ended her visit by giving advice to UNH students looking to pursue a similar career path as hers. 

“I’ve been telling people don’t be afraid to reach out because I sent my first email when I was a senior in high school to come here. And then I met with Mike Murphy my first week here and because of him, I was able to connect with so many other people,” said Noury. “So just by reaching out, just know you have nothing to lose, only experience and connections to gain and make sure you keep your connections and network strong.” 

The seminar paused for a moment after the fireside chat segment. The Sports Career Club had Jersey Mike’s subs and refreshments for their guests. The idea was for guests to utilize the time to network with each other. 

After the brief intermission, the Athletic DirectorPanel, hosted by McAuliffe, began. The panel included UNH’s Athletic Director, Allison Rich, Bentley University’s Athletic Director, Vaughan Williams and retired Athletic Director of Salve Regina, Jody Mooradian. 

McAuliffe asked questions ranging from dealing with collegiate sports during COVID-19 to how their respected schools are working towards creating equality in athletics. The goal was to give students looking to become athletic directors an idea of what their careers will look like.

While this is the last major event of the semester for the Sport Career Club, their next meeting will be held on April 12 at 9:00 p.m. They continue to welcome new members throughout the year and look forward to creating more events, like the seminar, in the future. 

“I’m really excited to come back in a couple years maybe and see where the club is. I know we have some underclassmen on our board, I’m leaving it in good hands,” said McAuliffe.