A new semester is now in full swing and a season opener in her sport of choice is just days away. So, like all of Villanova's 500 plus student-athletes,
Laura Persinski's days are full.
The senior defender on the Wildcats' women's lacrosse team – which opens its season Saturday at Duke - has a full academic course load to navigate in the Villanova School of Business, practice, games, strength and conditioning workouts. And those are just the basics.
For some, that might be enough.
But this native of McLean, Va., wasn't content to limit herself to the essentials of a Division I student-athlete's campus life. Instead, she embraced fully the opportunities to expand her vistas with an eye towards a future beyond the newly installed synthetic turf at Villanova Stadium.
Between her freshman and sophomore year in 2016, Persinski attended the London School of Economics, had an internship, and took a global business class through the Villanova School of Business. A year later she traveled to Shanghai, China to partake in another VSB summer program, where she had an internship and took another summer class. In the summer of 2018, Persinski was offered the chance to serve as an intern with a corporate entity she has always admired from afar, Nike, Inc., at its headquarters in Beaverton, Ore.
"I've been a student-athlete my entire life," notes Persinski. "To attend a school that is sponsored by Nike is very special. The gear and the swag is wonderful. But it's more about the power of sport. The amount of emotion that is put into sports is (incredible). You can see a fan go from very mellow to instant excitement in a few seconds – or, on the other side, agony.
"I think it's pretty incredible that their message is, yes, apparel but through sport what can they accomplish."
Nike founder Phil Knight detailed the birth and growth of his company in the 2017 bestselling book, "Shoe Dog." By the time she departed the northeast for the sprawling and still growing campus located in suburban Portland, Persinski – a Management Consulting and Dana Analytics major at VU - had read the book and gained a sense of what values might be important to its culture.
Gaining the opportunity to experience that dynamic on a daily basis was an invaluable experience according to the senior.
"Everyone has read 'Shoe Dog', everyone knows the story," says Persinski. "The people there don't give up. I would say that passion drives the majority of how things get done."
Persinski was part of the Global Cross-Category Strategy team.
"It's a pretty long title but global strategy is the easiest way to put it," she notes.
Her primary project centered on the Apple Watch Nike+, a high-profile partnership between Nike and Apple. In addition, she assisted with work on the strategic side that brought her into contact with top investors and shareholders on their visits to Beaverton. The entire intern class also took part in a group project, the Intern Combine, where they were teamed with five or six of their peers and were presented with a specific Nike problem to brainstorm a solution to. They then presented a solution to the judges, intern class and the interns' respective managers.
The experience of the summers of '16 and '17 spent abroad allowed Persinski a more global perspective than she might have held had Oregon been her first summer internship opportunity.
"Beaverton is the Nike global headquarters so at the strategic level we weren't just thinking about North America while we were out there," she explains. "Being able to have an understanding of why certain products work better in certain areas of the world gave me an in-depth perspective."
Persinski relished the vibrant atmosphere she found on Nike's campus. In a community populated by more than a few current or former athletes and coaches, Persinski was able to assimilate the company's culture quickly.
"One of the big lessons I learned is that we are all working on the same team and we're all working towards the same goal," states the senior. "Yes, you need to get your work done but if your teammate, on the field or in the office, needs help, you're there for them."
As she prepares for her final season as a collegiate athlete with her teammates, Persinski believes the lessons learned during her stint with Nike will prove helpful.
"I think the exposure I had both inside and outside the office last summer will be beneficial," she notes. "They did more than enough to keep us busy as interns, including an intramural intern league so that we got to know the others through playing various sports. Creating that network and having friends across the country that also compete in sports at other schools or attend other schools and who hold leadership positions in various organizations, was a highlight of the summer."
While her Nike summer offered incredible growth opportunities, Persinski still relishes this final go-around with her lacrosse teammates and coaches.
"These four years have gone by fast," she states. "The team's great. It doesn't really matter if we're running sprints that day or playing a fun, competitive game, I would say being with the team makes it all worthwhile."
Commencement looms in May and, as with many seniors beginning their final college semester, that brings with it a measure of uncertainty.
"I don't have any official plans after graduation," she states. "But I am very appreciative of the opportunities and experiences Villanova has provided me that have enabled me to position myself for after graduation. I would say working at Nike at the internal strategy level definitely gave me insight that I'm studying the right subjects, and building the right skills."
This much is clear. A summer spent at one of the world's most recognizable brands offered a veritable windfall of experiences to this Wildcat.
"Nike completely exceeded my expectations," Persinski states.
