Recently this fall, NH alum Emily Johnson started a social media internship at the Ripken Experience Aberdeen. The Ripken Experience in Aberdeen features a total of nine fields: Cal, Sr.’s Yard, CITI Field, Citizens Bank, Fenway Park, Memorial Stadium, Nationals Park, Yankee Stadium, PNC Park, and Wrigley Field.
One day sometime in August, Johnson was scrolling on a website that featured job listings within the sports industry when she stumbled upon a fall social media position at the Ripken Experience Aberdeen.
Johnson stated, “I’ve been wanting to do something involving communications, social media, and marketing for the last two years, so when I stumbled upon this position I immediately had to talk to my parents about it and apply.”
She continued, “About a week later, I heard back saying they wanted to interview me. A few days after the interview, I found out I got the internship and was absolutely thrilled about it.”
In this position, Johnson takes on the task of capturing photos and videos during weekend tournaments. She uploads content regularly to the Instagram story under the account handle @ripkenexpab. Each week, she conducts interviews with players, asking them a variety of questions—such as “What’s your favorite moment from this season?” and “What’s your walk up song?”—and compiling these interviews into videos for posting on Instagram and TikTok. Additionally, she visits the office once a week to work on creating a highlight reel of top plays and home runs as well as the tournament recap video.
Johnson stated, “After I clock in at work, I go around surveying what fields are warming up and what fields are getting ready to start and which fields have nobody on them. From there I make my game plan for the next hour or two, determining where I need to be and what specific content I can capture for posts or videos.”
Johnson continued, “For the rest of the day I just walk around the complex trying to get as much as I can in terms of videos, photos, player interviews, and things like that so that later I can use it to make videos for Instagram and TikTok.”
One of the craziest things Johnson has seen was during one of the last couple of weekends working there. During one of the championship games, it was pouring down rain, one of the teams was down by one run. They had two outs, and players on bases. The batter hit a double and managed to get two runs winning them the game. Johnson said, “All the players came running out onto the field in the pouring rain and were jumping around and freaking out because they had just won. It was a very intense, and close game with bad weather. Both teams played really well.”
With fall ball ending, Johnson stated, “My favorite thing about working this fall was being able to capture the moments and memories made by the players during the tournaments these past weeks.”
Johnson added, “I loved seeing the player’s reactions when I took a group photo of them. They often ask if it will be on the Instagram story, and when I say yes, they would get super excited and happy. Hearing them tell their teammates, ‘I’m going to be Instagram famous,’ never fails to put a smile on my face and truly brightens my day.”
