Landing dream Under Armour internship marks final success for mentor pair   

By Eng mentee Bradford Eagan

My name is Bradford Eagan and I’m a senior mechanical engineering mentee from Cincinnati. This year, I had the immense privilege of working with Tom Yatso, a mechanical engineering manager and program manager at STRATTEC Security Corporation in Milwaukee. Because Tom was also in the city, it allowed us to meet in person almost biweekly, which I believed to be incredibly beneficial for making the absolute most of our partnership.

Upon being selected for the MUAA Mentor Program, I had several ambitious goals I hoped to achieve, and Tom played an integral role into accomplishing them. Thanks to previous co-op experiences, I had the opportunity to partake in one final internship before graduation. With this in mind, I chose to shoot for the stars. Being a member of the Marquette Cross Country and Track teams at Marquette, I have a great passion for products that service athletes to aid them in performing at the highest level possible.

As a result, the primary goal for my partnership with Tom included securing an internship that would allow me to combine my passions for engineering and athletics. Naturally, my initial list of companies immediately pointed to those such as Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas. The problem, however, is that each of these internship programs were ultra-competitive, seeing 20,000+ applications per year for as few as 100 spots. To put it in perspective, Under Armour’s 2018 Rookie Summer League program, an internship program ranked in the top three of the nation the last two years, had an acceptance rate of 0.56%. In comparison, you would have a better chance of being accepted to Harvard, which had an acceptance rate of 4.59% in 2018.

While this intimidated me, Tom was confident we could make it happen. We began by completely reworking my resume to ensure it stood out among the sea of others included in the applicant pool. He then coached me with interview preparation, effectively networking on platforms such as LinkedIn and encouraging me to have phone conversations with Under Armour and Nike employees. Any minor advantage would prove to be integral in separating me from the pack. After six months and 12 days, the hard work Tom and I put forth paid off. I can now proudly say that starting on May 28^th I will be starting at Under Armour’s world headquarters in xx as an intern of the digital innovation team!

Accomplishing these goals didn’t happen by chance. I firmly believe it’s because of the close relationship with Tom that I can I’m working for my dream company prior to my college graduation. Our relationship, though, was more of a friendship than a partnership. We found common ground in his daughter’s passion for track and field and we ran with it from there. We each knew of the busy activities happening in each other’s lives. We even met me at one of my races this spring where Tom saw me compete.

If there is any advice I can offer future mentees, it’s get to know your mentor as a person. Learn about their life, their families and what makes them who they are. Doing so will make the relationship so much more personal, leading to both parties getting to most of the program that they possibly could. Thank you so much to Tom Yatso and the Marquette University Alumni Association Mentor Program- without this opportunity I’m not sure my Under Armour internship would have happened.

2018-19 MUAA Mentor Program Resource Guide