Project Touchdown! Affords Local College Students Educational Experiences at 2019 CFP Championship
Chapel Hill, NC – The 11th annual Project Touchdown! experience will be held at the College Football Playoff National Championship game in Santa Clara, California January 3 -7, 2019. Dr. Deborah Stroman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) professor, coordinates a team of four students who will share in the opportunity to work with the official College Football Playoff (CFP) operations staff.
The Project Touchdown! team is comprised of three UNC students and one student from North Carolina Central University (NCCU).
Landon Bost (UNC) – A 2nd year Media and Journalism and Hispanic Linguistics double major is interested in sports journalism. He currently writes for Spectacular Magazine and hosts a podcast called “New Depth.”
Sean Kelly (UNC) – A 3rd year Economics and Sport Administration double major is interested in sport marketing and sport finance. Kelly is an officer with the Carolina Sport Business Club and is the head manager for the UNC baseball team.
Ellie Rudd (UNC) – A 3 rd year in Sport Administration and Sociology double major is interested in operations for a professional sport team and social justice activities. Rudd is a manager for the UNC football team.
Abigail Sherrod (NCCU) – A 4th year Mass Communication major is interested in sports production and sports journalism. Sherrod interns with the NCCU athletic department. In addition, she has experience working with the NCCU Sport Network as a camera operator and editor, and ESPN camera and audio crews for college football productions.
Dr. Stroman has been leading unique experiential education programs for students at UNC for 11 years beginning with Atlantic Coast Conference championships in 2007. Her nationally acclaimed Basketball Analytics Summit is scheduled for April 12-13, 2019 at NCCU.
Stroman states, “Project Touchdown! has been my most rewarding effort to provide deserving students the once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of the inner planning circle of this amazing and very complex operation. The work required to execute a flawless major sporting event is very demanding. I am grateful to the CFP leadership for allowing us to learn so much… from logistics, marketing, and social media to communications, transportation, hospitality, and security. I get pumped up each and every year for the students!”
The College Football Playoff National Championship will be held on Monday, January 7, 2019 8:00 p.m. ET at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The University of Alabama, #1 seed and winner of the Capital One Orange Bowl, and Clemson University, #2 seed and winner of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, will battle for the championship of college football.