Finding a position with a Major League Baseball team is no small feat. Forget about being a player, making it as an intern isn’t easy either.

Illinois State University student Amanda Despres knows. She applied for an internship back in November with the Chicago Cubs, her favorite team. Despres, 20, got the job. She’s one of 24 interns the Cubs hired for the summer from a pool of 4,000 applicants.

Despres, who will be a junior, is pursuing a degree in sports communication, a new School of Communication program that debuts this fall. She started with the Cubs on May 19 and works in the Guest Experience Department, part of Ballpark Operations. Her internship runs until mid-August.

“I love Wrigley Field so much, and I want to make sure everyone who comes has a great experience,” she said.

From a sports family in the western suburbs of Chicago, Despres was an athlete in high school, playing softball and basketball. 

“I realized that I was not good enough to keep going, but I knew I wanted a career in sports,” she said.

To bolster her experience, she worked for Redbird Hockey, a registered student organization on campus. She also worked for Illinois State Athletics. She saw the ad for the Cubs internship on LinkedIn.

“This is my dream internship, and it’s still my dream job to work for the Chicago Cubs,” she said. To get hired, she submitted an application, a video, and participated in two Zoom calls. “It’s funny, but I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t think I’d get it,” Despres said.

She’s from a long line of what she described as “hardcore” Cubs fans, so everyone in the family was proud when she told them the news. She and her mom even shared a few happy tears. Her dad and her grandmothers were excited too.

“It’s a big thing and a huge accomplishment to be interning for a professional team, especially this one,” Despres said. “Since sophomore year in high school, I would tell everyone who asked that I wanted to work for the Cubs.

“Even though I’m just an intern, I do feel like I’ve reached my dream in a way.”

Her direct supervisor, Angela Tzortzis, senior coordinator in the Guest Experience Department, said Despres brings a fresh perspective and a strong desire to learn more about the organization.

“Amanda has demonstrated genuine enthusiasm since the first day of her internship,” Tzortzis said. “She arrives each day with a positive attitude and consistently shows a willingness to contribute wherever needed. Her eagerness to assist our team has been valuable this summer.”

During home games, you’ll find her at Wrigley Field working. One of her tasks is to produce an internal game note sheet that goes out to associates working the game to use as a reference tool. It organizes everything that’s going on at the ballpark that day, for example, when gates open and what promotions are going on.

“So, if a fan asks a question, our staff can refer to the note sheet,” she said. “I put that together, and that’s really cool.”

Before working any baseball games, she worked a concert the first week on the job. It was Post Malone and Jelly Roll, and she helped set up and assisted fans who needed help. She loves being able to look behind the curtain and said she’s amazed by all the work that goes into making a game day or an event successful.

The Cubs have a culture that encourages interns to also become familiar with jobs in other departments, a policy that Despres likes.

“I can shadow in the communications department or the marketing department or go get coffee and chat about someone’s job in another department,” she said. “My favorite thing is coming into the office and watching everyone do their jobs. I know from other internship experiences that I’m a very observant learner, so I like to see what other people are doing.”

Despres credits Tom Lamonica, M.S. ’88, instructional assistant professor and director of professional practice and internships in the School of Communication, for helping guide her. Despres will be a teaching assistant for one of Lamonica’s sports communication classes in the fall.

“Tom Lamonica has been a big mentor for me since freshman year when I had him for Intro to PR,” she said. “I was trying to get an internship then, and he taught me so much. The things I learned from him then helped me get this internship with the Cubs. So, I owe a big thank you to ISU and to Tom Lamonica. I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Despres admitted that she felt a little intimidated at the beginning of the internship.

“The first day was all about introductions, and there are a lot of interns here from big universities outside of Illinois,” she said. “But it felt really great for me to represent ISU on that first day.”

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