MELT U 2018: It's a win-win

ATLANTA, GA – June 04, 2018 – MELT (www.meltatl.com), the Atlanta-based award-winning sports, entertainment and culinary marketing agency announced today the roster of outstanding college students participating in MELT University, the prestigious intern program that recently was a finalist for a Cynopsis Media Social Good Award. MELT University received more than 500 applications for these coveted slots. The program is a fully-immersive eight-week program that features more than 50 speakers, educational field trips and a summer capstone program that exposes college students to real-world marketing agency experience. At the end of the term, MELT will make a commitment to hire a select group of interns as entry-level MELT employees, the only way a student can gain entry-level employment to MELT. 

The lineup of committed speakers consists of the whos-who of event, experiential, media and sports marketing professionals including marketing professionals from The Coca-Cola Company, Kia Automotive, The Atlanta Braves, The Atlanta Falcons, CBS, ESPN, Ticket Solutions, The University of Alabama, Auburn University, Fox Sports, The Chick-Fil-A Bowl, The American Cancer Society and many others. Each speaker will deliver a “Ted-Talk” style presentation on their career, their career path and what it takes to succeed in their respective profession. Each MELT University student is required to write each speaker a personal, hand-written note learning “old-school” follow up skills and relationship building. 

MELT University students will also take several field trips to Atlanta’s major sporting facilities to gain an up-close and personal view of the operations of facilities such as The Mercedes-Benz Dome, Suntrust Park and more. Each student is required to write a report on their learnings and how they could be marketed to better as Generation Z. 

Summer Capstone projects will provide real-world experience to each student while they are attending MELT University. This includes working on such projects as ESPN College Game Day, NASCAR, MLB All-Star Game, The MLS All-Star Game and many others. The purpose of the capstone is to help guide and expose students in many areas of the sports and event marketing arenas.

MELT University is the brainchild of MELT Chairman and CEO Vince Thompson. Thompson, who worked as a student assistant in The Auburn University Sports Information Department credits that experience with starting him on his career path and building MELT into an award-winning agency since the beginning in 2000. He regularly lectures at colleges and universities across the country on career growth and development and as such, this is his way of “giving back and paying forward” to the next generation of marketing professionals. MELT University alumni are literally spread throughout the country in some of the top places in the sports world including The Coca-Cola Company, CAA, The Denver Broncos, The Chicago Bears, The University of South Carolina and more. 

“Of all the neat and fun things that I get to do at MELT, this is by far my favorite thing to do, helping these students on their career path and journey. And our entire team loves their energy and insight these kids bring to us during the summer, so we learn as much from them as they learn from us,” said Thompson.

“It’s a win-win situation.”

The Class of 2018 features an outstanding group of students from colleges and universities from across the country:

Aaron Juceam – Indiana University

Autumn Burnette – University of West Georgia

Benjamin McDowell – LSU Shreveport

Brianna Xirinachs – The University of Alabama

Cassidy Spetnagel – Wake Forest University 

Charlie Leonard – Appalachian State University

Christopher Ward – Georgia State University

Davis Houk – University of North Carolina

Dillon Rathburn – University of Georgia

Elizabeth Gould – University of Nebraska

Elizabeth McLean – Florida State University

Hamp Briley – Auburn University

Harrison Nolen – Georgia Southern University 

Holly Shaw – College of Charleston

Jack Smith – Auburn University 

Jake O’Donnell – University of South Carolina

Jared Lindy – The University of Texas

Jolene James – University of Central Florida

Jordan Muschamp – Auburn University

Josie Slaughter – The University of Mississippi

Julia Spreng – University of Georgia

Kevin Paul – The University of Alabama

Lizzie Levine – The University of Alabama

McLean Allen – The University of Alabama

Maria Stagliano – University of Georgia

Raquel Galinzski – Elon University 

Ruffin Cramer – The University of Alabama

Sam Bayne – Southern Methodist University

Sarah Batchelder – University of North Carolina

Scotty Frantz – College of Charleston

Sydney Vandroff – University of Florida

Tayler Ayers – Savannah College of Art & Design

Trace Markwalter – The University of Alabama

Tyler Haswell – University of South Carolina

Stay connected with all the fun things the MELT U interns will be doing this summer here:

https://meltu2018.tumblr.com

https://vimeo.com/meltatlanta