It Wasn’t Supposed To Be Like This

Lepage in front of his internship location, the Post Sports Science and Fitness Center.

Exploring local beer joints with friends, hosting parties and completing a semester-long internship in Boston were all things that Endicott College senior Mark Lepage dreamt of finally experiencing before mid-March of this year.

Thanks to Covid-19, the sport management student stops by the corner liquor store on Fridays to pick up booze and drink with his friends in his apartment-style dorm. In the meantime, he is getting experience at Endicott’s Post Sports Science and Fitness Center as a Recreation/Club Sport/Intramural intern.

Instead, as Lepage calls it, he’s essentially a Covid intern.

Lepage ensures that everyone is adhering to the Covid guidelines during open gym hours, where students can shoot a basketball, do laps, kick a soccer ball around, etc. While playing a game with friends, students must keep their masks up covering their mouth and nose as well as stay six feet apart. Lepage says he has had to yell at multiple kids for not following these seemingly simple rules.

He often makes rounds around the building, too, which also houses classrooms and faculty offices, making sure everyone is wearing a mask and keeping their distance from others.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” said Lepage.

If the pandemic hadn’t struck, Lepage would have been refereeing club and intramural sporting events, making brackets schedules for those teams to play and chatting with his buddies while they play H.O.R.S.E. during open gym on the second floor of the Post Center as he makes his rounds, making sure everyone is having a good time and has the equipment they need.

Before March, Lepage’s ultimate goal was to enter the sports industry as a coach – baseball being his dream since he was a little boy. Since the spring, he realized this wasn’t likely.

Lepage acknowledges the fact that it’s difficult to get into coaching as is, nevermind the added issues that the pandemic has brought along. He had to tell himself that it wasn’t going to happen so his self esteem doesn’t get crushed in the future.

When college students were sent home for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester in March, Lepage was in the midst of searching for his third and final internship with Endicott College, a semester-long fall internship.

Endicott’s world-renowned internship program requires most of its students in their academic programs to complete two 120-hour internships as a freshman and as a sophomore, and then one 480-hour, semester internship as a senior.

Lepage’s original plan was to complete his internship somewhere in Boston and commute to it during the week. When he reached out to potential sites in March and April, he either didn’t hear back from them at all or was told the company was on a temporary hiring freeze.

Lepage credits his internship coordinator, Kevin Commette, for helping him secure his gig with the school on July 31st, a day before the August 1st deadline for seniors to finalize and put their internship into the system.

Commette emailed Lepage a list of viable internship opportunities for him on-campus. After applying to all of them, Lepage interviewed for two and got calls back for both. He immediately accepted his top choice, the Recreation/Club Sport/Intramural intern position.

“I’ve tried not to think about the future too much, rather pour all of my focus into my internship and just enjoying my last year here as an undergrad,” said Lepage.

Lepage’s role with the Post Center wasn’t something he was originally interested in as a facility manager, but he knows he has to be open to anything given the state of the world, more specifically sports, and finds himself enjoying the experience.

Despite his hesitancy, Lepage embraces the tasks given to him and he is excited to put what he’s doing on his resume once he completes his internship. This includes communication skills, computer program skills and supervising fellow employees throughout his shift.

As a junior, Lepage was set on graduating with his Bachelor’s of Science in sport management and entering the workforce. A year later, he has his sights set on entering Endicott’s Fifth Year Sport Leadership program (M.S.) and has hopes of becoming the Graduate Assistant with the Post Center.

Having his Master’s degree would greatly set Lepage apart from other potential candidates, and getting one more year of education under his belt gives the sports industry and the world in general more time to go back to normal before he throws himself into such an uncertain situation.

Lepage says he’s nervous but he trusts himself to make the right decisions no matter what 2021 throws at him.

As a diehard, lifelong Boston sports fan, being able to work in sports in any capacity is something that would make Lepage feel fulfilled.

While no one is sure what graduation will look like for the class of 2021 and no one is sure if the long-awaited senior week and its festivities will take place, Lepage is keeping his head up and giving his final internship his best effort.

Lepage knows the school’s guidelines are for the greater good and he hopes that with time and with everyone continuing to follow the rules that he’ll get to have a little bit of fun before he becomes a true adult.

“It isn’t the same, there’s no camaraderie,” said Lepage. “I don’t really have a social life anymore. I feel more like a prisoner than a college student.”