At Elon’s Charlotte campus, Skylar Cook '28 is turning classroom lessons into real-world impact. Between her internship with the ACC and her research partnership with the Sports Business Journal, she’s building the skills and connections to launch a career in women’s sports.
Skylar Cook’s involvement in Elon’s Charlotte program, The Sport Experience, has offered her “expert-level” professional opportunities to further her career.
Growing up in a sports-oriented family, Cook’s world in early high school revolved around dancing and basketball. However, for health-related reasons, she was forced to stop participating in both activities. Her interest in sports and determination to stay involved in her high school teams led her to discover sports in other ways besides playing on the court.
“I wanted to be involved in the sports world even though I couldn’t play, so I was the team manager for my school’s women’s soccer and lacrosse teams. I’d still be present at every game, just doing stats instead. That’s when it really clicked for me that this is something I want to do professionally,” she said.
When looking for colleges, Cook was first interested in big schools with a large number of students. Coming from Portland, Maine, she first visited Elon’s campus on Communications Fellows weekend.
While here, she explored the program and had the opportunity to meet with communications and sport management professors who would later become her mentors and strongest allies.
Once on campus, she fell in love with the environment and community of Elon.
“I absolutely loved it. All the professors I met were amazing, and I remember connecting the most with Dr. Shaina Dabbs in the sport management department,” she explained.
For Cook, this visit and her application for the Communications Fellows acted as a turning point in her college search. She committed to Elon because of the community connections she made on her visit and her acceptance into the Communications Fellows Program, but this was just the beginning of her academic success.
Cook was first introduced to the idea of studying and working on Elon’s Charlotte campus by Dabbs, who is also the Women Influencers in Sport (WINS) club advisor. WINS is a student-led on-campus organization that focuses on developing women’s careers in sports and providing them with opportunities to be involved in the sports industry. Her interest was further piqued by the WINS student representatives, who presented professional development opportunities in one of her communications classes.
After the presentation, she kept the opportunity at the forefront of her mind, knowing this was an opportunity she wanted to pursue. She later applied to study with Elon Charlotte’s “The Sport Experience,” where she would earn an internship with the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the “Power 4” conferences in the nation.
“The sport management department really pushes the Elon Charlotte Sport Internship Program for a good reason. I was excited for it, and I knew I had to do it,” she said.
After receiving an email from Dabbs at the beginning of the academic year, Cook was invited to conduct research with the Sports Business Journal, involving WINS.
“It was really cool because they came to us, and this wasn’t something we initiated,” she explained.
The research with the Sports Business Journal involves the WINS, focused on data collection for emerging women’s sports leagues and their use of social media. Her team is working alongside Jenn Azara, the director of women’s sports content for Sports Business Journal, to conduct research that will be presented at the WINS annual forum in November.
Including her work with WINS and the Sports Business Journal, Cook is now involved in three undergraduate research projects. She is especially excited about her newest research involving the Women’s National Basketball Association and its viewer markets and attendance factors with Alex Traugutt, assistant professor of sports management.
Her responsibilities for this project include collecting data on the factors that affect fan attendance, like how many star players are playing and how many rookies are in attendance.
“I’m obsessed with the WNBA,” she said. “And that’s the goal, that’s where I want to work one day.”
Her work in Elon’s Charlotte program has strengthened her professional development and prepared her to further her career in ways she never imagined. She mentions the program has catapulted her forward, opening many opportunities for success in her field: “I feel ahead in ways that I didn’t before.”
“The opportunities are endless, and Elon supports you through it. I never felt like they’ve thrown me into the deep end and said, ‘go for it’, but I feel like they have the perfect balance of supporting us, but not holding our hands through it,” said Cook.
Continuing to push for greatness within the sports communications world, Cook expresses her disbelief for the “life-changing” opportunity she’s earned at Elon and in Charlotte.
“I’m 19 and in Charlotte, working for a Power 4 college conference, and it’s all because I came to Elon for my Communications Fellows Scholarship,” she said. “It felt like someone was believing in me. It’s so meaningful because it feels like someone’s acknowledging that I can go far. They recognize my potential.”