Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/324312
how so many different backgrounds come into play in that board room," Mitchell noted. "The thing about all of the people that have a footprint on the decisions that are made around Grounds was to see the way they came together and collaborated on ideas and used their various business experiences to help make decisions." That also played out in the strategic planning. Whatever the Board of Visitors decides then needs to be implemented in the strategic plan so they kind of go hand in hand." The internship provided the opportunity to re- late a practical, sociological approach to research, problem solving and leadership. Furthermore, the exposure to career experiences plus the chance to receive advice from individuals Mitchell called "far more knowledgeable than me" paid dividends he believes will carry forward in his future endeavors. "If I could learn in this setting while I had the op- portunity, I felt I could apply a lot of what I learned to a business environment," he added. But the Charlotte (N.C.) Christian School prod- uct said the biggest draw was the chance to work directly with President Sullivan. "The opportunity to meet President Sullivan was incredible," he noted. "I think a lot of students would love to have the opportunity to meet the president of the university." Mitchell said what caught him off guard while working with Dr. Sullivan was how approachable and truly interested the president of a major univer- sity such as Virginia was in the opinions and idea of the interns. "What I didn't really see coming was how down to earth everybody was, how down to earth in regards to the students President Sullivan was," Mitchell said. "You hear stories all the time, of course, of how down to earth she is, but it really caught me off guard and made me think twice that she was so willing to meet with us to take time to talk with us about sensitive topics, things that are really affecting the university." Mitchell also discovered the president of the university takes sports seriously. He said they even discussed the Northwestern unionization ruling. The landmark ruling by Peter Sung Ohr, a re- gional director of the National Labor Relations Board, found that grant-in-aid scholarship football players at Northwestern are employees and could unionize. "We discussed that after the Northwestern thing broke. She's so informed on everything," Mitchell said of Dr. Sullivan. "She was two steps ahead of me on everything that I had thought about it. "Athletics are a part of the university that Dr. Sullivan respects and admires," Mitchell continued. "She has such a great passion for the university as a whole and I think it plays into the way she feels In May, Mitchell signed on to join the Virginia Athletics Foundation. PHOTO COURTESY VAF