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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — It's safety Reggie Pearson and defensive lineman Isaiah Mullens creating resumes, cover letters and LinkedIn profiles. It's linebacker Mike Maskalunas updating his.
It's tailback Nakia Watson translating his interest in working with individuals with disabilities from a simple community service opportunity into a dedicated summer internship.
It's wide receiver Jack Dunn and his brother Bobby, a UW grad assistant, starting a charity to help fund meals for Agrace Hospice families in the Madison community.
It's defensive back Madison Cone graduating in three years and pursuing his master's.
It's nose tackle Olive Sagapolu chasing his pro football dreams while finishing his degree.
It's quarterback Graham Mertz learning more about the business model for sports apparel brands.
It's safety Tyler Mais brushing up on his Spanish or defensive lineman Bryson Williams deep diving into business and finance books during the coronavirus quarantine.
It's all of the above, and so much more that puts a smile on the face of Brittany McGowan, Wisconsin's Director of Career and Leadership, who works with UW's football and volleyball teams.
McGowan, a former Big Ten swimmer at Illinois, has a bold mission statement.
"I like to elevate lives," she said, "and accelerate dreams for the teams I'm assigned to."
As far as working directly with the Badgers football program, she was succinct and to the point.
"I'm there to help figure out exactly what their passions are, what their interests are in life outside of football and how they can work towards achieving those dreams."
It can start out simply enough by asking what they like to do in their free time.
Her follow-up may be, 'When was the last time you remember getting lost in time?' Whether playing video games, talking and laughing with friends, reading a book, whatever piques their interest?
"I like to start there and see where the light in their eyes kind of shines through."
By finding what they're really interested in and enjoy doing, she assures them, it can lead to "finding a way to making a career out of that to where they can find a sustainable lifestyle."
Today's reality is not normality. It's online instruction and social distancing. It's an ongoing adjustment process and McGowan has been touching base with about five student-athletes a day.
"We've moved from meeting in person to more of the virtual model," McGowan said. "There's a lot of texting and FaceTime and phone calls. The guys really enjoy FaceTime.
"We're checking in on how they're doing, how obviously they're managing school and training from home and also how they're managing some of the downtime to pursue those career goals."
In that way, the current situation offers an opportunity.
"Some of the guys have been making music or creating graphic design and photography," she said. "They've been able to pick up some of their hobbies that maybe they haven't had a lot of time for.
"And then we've really been trying to focus on getting the guys to connect with alums that work in the career fields of their interest to learn from former Badgers athletes and their career paths."
Wisconsin's Forward360 app was launched to link current and past players. The importance of which, McGowan said, "Was having these connections in your pocket so that you can reach out for any kind of advice."
Real estate is among wide receiver Cam Phillips' interests.
"Right away, Andy Crooks popped into my mind," McGowan said.
A four-year letterwinner and a team captain in 2007, Crooks is a realtor and managing broker at T.R. McKenzie Inc., a local property management firm and real estate brokerage.
"Cam was able to message Andy directory to schedule an opportunity to talk with him and they set up a video call through the Forward360 app," McGowan said.
"They were able to talk for an hour about life in the real estate industry and Andy was able to give really good advice on how to get involved and gain experience and exposure."
It's the equivalent of a mentorship.
It's what Connor Allen, a four-year letterwinner as a holder and punter, has had with Dan Schneck, a backup linebacker and special teams player for the Badgers in the mid-'90s.
Allen, a triple major in Finance, Investment & Banking, Management & Human Resources, and Risk Management & Insurance, will graduate on May 9 in the UW's virtual commencement.
In June, Allen is scheduled to begin a two-year training period as a financial advisor for Robert W. Baird & Company in Milwaukee, where Schneck is a senior investment consultant and vice president.
"It's kind of one of those jobs that gets better the longer you do it," volunteered Schneck, who earned his UW undergrad degrees in agricultural business management and economics. He's been with Baird since 1999.
Allen and Schneck were paired together last summer at a golf outing that McGowan helped set up along with Nick Pasquarello, the executive director of the W Club and strategic partnerships.
Linebacker Zack Baun was also in the grouping with Allen and Schneck at University Ridge. Schneck cited his positive networking history with Pasquarello, a former UW soccer player.
"We played nine holes and just talked about golf and networking," Schneck said. "There were five or six foursomes and I thought it was a cool way to spend a couple of hours with the kids."
Said Allen, "We hit it off right away — he (Schneck) is a good golfer, so it worked out great for our group. And we just had a good time talking about finance and his role as a financial advisor.
"Because that's what I want to do, I was picking his brain the whole time. We stayed in touch the next couple of months. When I heard about their training program at Baird, I reached out to him."
Schneck was encouraged by Allen's initiative.
"Connor ended up following up with me, which is great and which is what the kids need to do," Schneck said. "I ended up talking to him on the phone a couple of times and he came to my office."
Accenting the value of networking for jobs, he added, "He did a nice job of following through with someone like myself who was willing to tell their story and how they worked through the system."
Mission accomplished for McGowan and the Career and Leadership program.
"I went to Brittany probably my sophomore year to just kind of get introduced to the idea of doing interviews for internships and that sort of thing," said Allen, a native of New Berlin, Wisconsin. "She really guided me through the whole application and interview process.
"My junior year, they started doing these leadership lessons once a month or every other month. Any student-athlete could sign up for them and we had maybe 30 people that would go.
"There were different topics within leadership, different ways you could figure out what style of leader you were and traits to learn about to make you a better leader moving forward."
Allen also completed the University of Wisconsin Leadership Certificate Program, which includes at least 100 hours of leadership training or service along with some written essays and activities.
"You put in extra effort to get that, they just don't hand it out to people," Allen said, adding the essays were a useful vehicle "to reflect on your own leadership skills and capabilities."
Two other football graduates, defensive lineman Gunnar Roberge (kinesiology and neurobiology) and linebacker Tyler Johnson (biology and microbiology), also completed the Leadership Certificate, a noteworthy accomplishment, according to McGowan.
"The experience of going through the certificate requirements," she said, "sets you up so well for future interviews because you already know how to articulate the skills you've gained. And you can apply that to what you plan to do in your future.
"Connor was someone who came to a lot of our events and was really good at networking."
Allen's parting wish is that others will take advantage of the available campus resources.
"That's one of the things I can't emphasize enough to the younger guys — young athletes in any sport coming through the UW," Allen said.
"We have these incredible resources and all these incredible people who really want to help us succeed, not only in athletics, but in our lives going forward after leaving the UW."
Schneck was impressed with the way that Allen interviewed and passed along this advice: "Do a lot of networking, because there are people like me who will help them network if they ask."
As the program coordinator, McGowan is in a position to set the wheels in motion.
"She's very involved in what she does," Allen said. "She cares a lot about us as individuals in truly trying to help us in any way that she can."
Quarterback Danny Vanden Boom and wide receiver Cade Green have summer internships with New York Life (where tackle Cole Van Lanen and tight end Seth Currens interned last year).
Linebacker Marty Strey is interning with American Family Insurance and Bryson Williams with Northwestern Mutual. Other players are still waiting on internships opening up.
"We have some great employer partners," McGowan emphasized. "Some of the internships are hard to solidify right now just because we don't know when we'll be back and operating in person.
"But there also have been a handful of companies that have moved to a virtual model and are willing to flex with the times and still offer the experience for the student-athlete.
"If we aren't able to find internships for everybody that is looking for them, we will coordinate different experiences, again leveraging those alums and creating some sort of extended shadowing …
"Even if it has to be remotely."
Although Allen is disappointed that he won't be able to walk the walk — across the stage during commencement — he has made sure to keep everything in perspective.
"It's very unfortunate after you spent so much time at such a great university that you don't get the whole, true graduation experience," Allen admitted. "But when you look at the whole scheme of things right now in the current situation (with the pandemic), so many more people are in a much worse position than you are."
So, while it stings not to graduate the traditional way, he's prepared to make the best of it — "All in all, it's not the worst-case scenario" — one of the strong leadership traits that he will take to Baird.
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