Golden Gate Experience Broadened Horizons

When Cassidy Eckert was planning for the future while growing up in Canada, she knew lacrosse could help her get into college. She knew, also, that her chosen sport probably wouldn't take her much further than that.

So Eckert, a goalie from Burlington, Ontario, wanted to pick a school that would provide ample professional development opportunities – professional development opportunities such as last week's "Golden Gate Experience," organized by Oregon athletics to connect Ducks with alumni and professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A year after the first trip of its kind, to Los Angeles, 11 student-athletes and four staff members from Oregon spent four days last week in the Bay Area. They met with executives from companies like Google, Pixar and J.P. Morgan, as well as the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers and San Francisco Giants.

For Eckert, the trip was affirmation that she'd chosen the right school to help her forge a career path once she's finished playing lacrosse.

"On my recruiting visit, Oregon said they had the resources," said Eckert, who will be a senior with the UO lacrosse program come spring. "And they've proven that on this trip. There's nowhere like Oregon when it comes to caring for both the person and the athlete."

The lacrosse team was one of eight programs within the UO athletic department represented on the trip. The student-athletes were joined by two staff members each from student-athlete development and the Duck Athletic Fund.

Gabby Lange, a recent UO graduate in business administration who participated with acrobatics and tumbling, joined the trip in hopes of identifying a job opportunity. She knows well the power of the Oregon brand, from the attention her team-issued backpack draws while she's walking through airports all across the United States. That proved to her the wide network of UO alumni across the country, which she wanted to tap into via the "Golden Gate Experience."

"There's nothing like it," Lange said. "That's what drew me to the school in the first place – because I know wherever I go, there will be people that know what the 'O' means."

Lange was joined for the trip by two teammates with acrobatics and tumbling, Katie Keogh and Mallory Kent; Peyton Scott and Kennedi Williams from women's basketball; Matthew Grabmann from baseball; Asher Krauel and Riley Traeger from track and field; Ella Tyus from beach volleyball; Russell Soohoo from men's tennis; and Eckert from lacrosse.

The trip included meetings with UO alumni and other executives from the companies involved, including commercial real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield, and facility management software developer Facilitron. The group toured the offices and facilities of the pro sports organizations, and participated in networking dinners with alumni and potential mentors.

"I had no idea the power of being a Duck, and the family that stands behind us as current students," said Scott, who recently joined the women's basketball program as a graduate transfer, and who is pursuing a master's in advertising and brand responsibility. "I soaked up every single second of this experience, and can't wait to apply all the great advice I received to my life back home and in my last year of college."

Several student-athletes said one of their main takeaways from the trip was the value of networking, both through online resources such as LinkedIn and in person through opportunities like the "Golden Gate Experience."

"I keep hearing the same thing – relationships are everything," said Williams, like Scott a fifth-year transfer with the women's basketball program. "So, build genuine connections. No matter what you want to do, how you treat people is so important."

Traeger spent part of her summer as an intern with the Duck Athletic Fund. Among her responsibilities was helping plan the "Golden Gate Experience" – which she then got to enjoy as a participant last week.

"It means a lot to get a deeper dive into this stuff, learn about people's roles and what they do," said Traeger, who is studying general social science and sports business. "I'm interested in it all, and it's been a great experience."

For someone like Lange, the trip was a chance to identify a job opportunity now that she has graduated from the University of Oregon. For those student-athletes who have yet to graduate, the trip was all about expanding horizons.

"I think the variety of companies we visited was great," said Soohoo, a computer science major. "It's good to learn about all the different industries, even if it's not the field I want to pursue. It's also good to get the different perspectives, from big companies like Google to start-up companies like Facilitron."

And for participants such as Eckert, the trip validated the decision she made several years ago to become a Duck.

"It has given me so much more confidence in potential career paths that I would have never thought of before, given me guidance into next steps to enhance my experience for job positions, and connected me with people who genuinely want to see me do well and have a hand in my success," Eckert said. "It was incredible."

University of Oregon Athletics

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