MTSU STEM Mentors
Sydney Marshburn
How would you describe your college experience?
When I arrived at MTSU, I immediately got involved with student organizations as a way to make friends and find my niche. Those organizations ultimately opened a realm of career-based opportunities for me. My years at MTSU went by very quickly because I was so active. In college, as the VP of Special Events for CMA EDU, I gained proficient experience writing promotional materials for the Country Music Association’s (CMA) collegiate outreach program. This included organizing and collaborating on our chapter’s program development and reporting our consumer marketing research results to CMA.
Even though I majored in Music Business, my heart truly belongs to sports. For the past year, I was the Marketing and Communications Director of the MTSU Ice Hockey Club. 2019-2020 was their inaugural season in the SEC Hockey Conference, and it was the first time the team shed their ‘collegiate club sport’ bias through their media and community presence. I managed their social media accounts, authored press releases, updated fans through newsletters, trained our merchandisers, maintained current sponsorships and established new ones, organized fundraisers and coordinated volunteer events. I made it my mission to involve our players in more local volunteerism. We started a professional relationship with the Homes for Our Troops organization, building houses for wounded veterans. I coordinated a 2020 Pups ‘N’ Pucks calendar to benefit our local PAWS animal shelter. We launched our Kids Club and Blue Line Buddies program; where local Nashville age group athletes suited up and were announced as part of MT Hockey's starting lineup. With the city of Murfreesboro, I organized a 'Skate with the Blue Raiders' session during Winterfest 2019. To help elementary schoolers become excited about learning, I scheduled and publicized 'High-Five Fridays' with a local elementary school.
When did you know that you wanted to major in a STEM discipline?
I’ll be honest; I am not directly a STEM major. My sisters are both currently STEM students at their respective universities, but I chose a different path. I received my bachelor’s degree in Recording Industry with a concentration in Music Business and a minor in Mass Communications. However, for my entire life, I’ve been surrounded by women that have used STEM. When my family was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, the Navy would host an annual STEM day for middle school-aged girls. We were shuttled around the base to experience a variety of STEM workshops, such as underwater engineering, physical therapy, chemistry, and biology. I found it interesting to learn how many ways STEM overlapped into my everyday life.