“The surest way not
to fail is to determine
to succeed.”
BACHELOR OF
SCIENCE IN SPORT
AND REREATION
MANAGEMENT
- Richard Brinsley Sheridan
By: Michele Harhut
September 7, 2010
Who is Michele Harhut?
Professional Associations:
 School of Tourism and
Hospitality Management
Student Association
 Sports and Recreation
Professional Association
Related Courses:
 Programming and Special
Events
 Leadership
 Management in Sports
and Recreation
I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I was always very involved in sports.
I did gymnastics for thirteen
years, was on the swimming
and diving team in high
school and played intramural
volleyball in high school and
college. Sports have always
been a huge part of my life.
When I went to college I
knew exactly what I wanted
to do; Sports and Recreation
Management.
Over the course of
the last three years I have
held a variety of positions
that have prepared me for
my future career. My first
experience in the Sport Industry came from working at
First Class Gymnastics. I
worked there for three
years and greatly enjoyed my
time there working with
children teaching about the
sport I love so much.
During my sophomore year (2008-2009) at
Temple I started working at
The Hub, which is a meetings
and events center with three
locations around Philadelphia. This job is especially
important to me because it’s
right in the industry and I get
real life experiences everyday.
The summer before
my senior year (2010) I
worked at Toyota Pavilion at
Montage Mountain, which is
a outdoor concert venue. I
worked in the Event Services
department doing a variety
of tasks and jobs. It was a
great experience seeing how
all the pieces of a show came
together and how all the
departments need to work
together.
For my junior internship (summer 2010) I
worked at the Scranton Cultural Center in the Event
Planning department as well
as working with the Marketing department. Even though
I’m very interested in the
sports side of the industry I
also enjoy event planning. I
learned a great deal about
event planning for other
types of events such as weddings, showers, birthdays,
etc. I think that it was very
beneficial to learn something
new. It opened my eyes to
the Tourism and Hospitality
side of the industry.
I’m very passionate
about this industry ; it is everything I love all put together.
“Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our
weaknesses” - Marilyn vos Savant
I think it’s important
to look at your strengths and
weaknesses in order to understand what you can bring to
the table right now and what
you need to work on.
I believe I have a lot
of strengths to bring to the
table. I have had jobs in all
sides of the industry from
setting up obstacle courses to
planning a wedding. I think the
diversity of jobs I’ve had allows me to be well suited for
a wide array of jobs. They
have all made me improve my
time management skills and
my creativity. I’m a very organized person. I always write
everything down and have lists
for practically everything.
Because I’m so organized I get stuck in my way
of doing things. I like having
things a certain way. I need to
let go of my ways and accept
other ways of doing things. I
also need to be more confident in myself and my opinions. I know I have the right
abilities but sometimes I get in
my own way.
Page 2
“The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.”
The Hub - Meeting and Event Center
I started working at
The Hub in October of 2008. I
was offered a job after shadowing an event for my Programming and Special Events class. I
started off as a Service Assistant and within the year
moved up to a Part-time Meeting and Event Coordinator.
I do a variety of tasks
working at The Hub. I work at
the front desk, address customers’ questions and concerns,
event management, facility
management and daily operations.
The Hub has three
locations through out Philadelphia and is one of the 100 businesses in Philadelphia. That
being said it is very important
to be on top of your game all
the time. Having three distinctly different locations makes
it very important to make sure
things are done the right way at
each location. One location
may have glasses placed on the
left side while another location
is on the right side. Being detail
oriented is very important.
Working at The Hub
Toyota Pavilion at
Montage Mountain
During the summer
of 2010 I worked Event Services at Toyota Pavilion at
Montage Mountain in Scranton,
Pa. I never worked in a concert
environment so I thought
working here would be a very
good opportunity.
View of Toyota Pavilion from
lawn seating
I worked in as many
positions as I could during my
time there. I worked in the VIP
area, took tickets, ushered and
addressed customers’ questions and concerns. Working at
has sharpened my time management skills. Some days we
have three or four events going
on at once. This means they
break at different times, need
lunches at different times, and
need to be refreshed. Being
able to get things done in a
timely matter is essential.
I believe working at
The Hub during college has
given me a great advantage. I
was able to learn by the book
in class but also get the valuable
real life experiences at work.
Toyota Pavilion helped me be
more confident in my abilities.
Since the venue is so large I
had to handle problems on my
own. During the Dave Matthews Band concert there was
an issue in my section were
duplicate tickets were given
out. Both groups came up to
me and were all visibly upset
about the situation.
Keystone Room - The Hub
City View
the supervisor straightened out
the issue, both groups were
trying to get me to let them
down in the front rows. Although it was hard to keep
saying no as they were asking
me I had to be confident that I
was doing the right thing. That
experience went a long way in
helping me strengthen my confidence.
I took all of their
tickets and had them sit in a
box were no one was sitting
while I got a supervisor. When
I was waiting with them while
Scranton Cultural Center
Although I love
sports and recreation I decided
to do something a bit different
for my junior internship
(Summer 2010). I wanted to
take a look at the wedding and
theatre side of the industry. I
worked at the Scranton Cultural Center in the Event Planning and Marketing departments.
picking out colors, to the actual
event. It was such a great feeling knowing that all the hard
work and small details put into
every wedding paid off. I love
how all the weddings had their
own style and feel. There’s
never a day or event that is
exactly the same; which makes
this such a great industry.
sent out
email
blasts to
customers
on the
mailing
list. I never Grand Ballroom from
was very
second floor balcony
interested
in Marketing but learning about how to
word advertisements in order to reach the
While working in the target market was very interesting. MarketI genuinely enjoyed
marketing department I learned ing can make the difference between a sucmaking someone’s special day how to use Microsoft Publisher
perfect and worry free. Every- to make the monthly newslet- cessful event and an unsuccessful event.
thing from the first meeting, to ter. I also put together and