Graduate Student Gains Real-World Experience with Arkansas Travelers Internship

A UA Little Rock graduate student spent the past six months honing his skills in sports management through an exciting internship with the Arkansas Travelers.

Avery Thomas-Wells, who is earning his master's degree in the sports management program at UA Little Rock, interned with the Travelers from April through September, providing invaluable industry knowledge and a stepping stone toward her future career in the sports world

"I learned a lot of different things," he said. "I just wanted to have a broad experience to learn as much as possible about sports management. Say you want to become an athletic director; you have to wear a lot of different hats. With the Travelers, I learned everything from ticketing to game day operations to hospitality and marketing to how we handle safety."

Being an intern for the Travelers meant working a lot of nights and weekends, but Thomas-Wells commented that it was a great place to spend his time.

"This is a fun place to work, and my family, friends, and girlfriend enjoy coming here for games," he said. "I especially enjoy the games when people bring their dogs. My dog, a German Shepherd named Bruce Wayne, would get so excited about seeing all the other dogs. Now that the baseball season is over, it's almost sad to think about how quiet the weekends can be."

Thomas-Wells especially enjoyed being a part of such a memorable season, when the Travelers won the Texas League Championship for the first time in 16 years.

"My favorite part of the internship was when we won the championship," he said. "That's the kind of experience that you hope for throughout the year. The fans are very excited, and it's such a fun environment. Hopefully, winning the championship will bring in a lot more people to the games next year."

Thomas-Wells has already been invited to intern with the Travelers for the 2025 season.

"I'm looking forward to next season and taking on a bigger role," he said. "I give the Travelers credit for having a good organization and a good working environment. I want to credit my supervisors Kaitlyn Bolton and Megan Girton. They don't know how good of a job they did. They inspired me to want to work harder."