By Steve Sampsell, Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK — Two Penn State communications students — Rob Roselli, a senior from Marlton, N.J., and Melissa Schiller, a senior from Blue Bell — have been selected to work as volunteer media relations members for the NFL at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans.
This is the third consecutive year Penn State students have been selected to complete the intensive opportunity. The students will be on site from Jan. 25 through Feb. 4 as part of a staff of nearly 100 volunteers — a mix of NFL team personnel, other professionals and college students.
Responsibilities for volunteers include things such as transcribing player and coach interviews, editing and fact-checking press releases, escorting former players and football celebrities to interviews along Radio Row at the Super Bowl Media Center, staffing a media information desk and other duties. The Super Bowl will attract more than 5,200 media members.
Students are selected for this opportunity through an application process. Both Roselli and Schiller are public relations majors who have previously completed several high-level, sports-related internships and work experiences.
Roselli has worked for Penn State Public Information, the Philadelphia 76ers and Penn State football.
“I imagine I will be doing a variety of standard media relations tasks, including distributing fact sheets and general information to the media, transcribing interviews and assisting wherever possible with media-related tasks,” Roselli said. “From what I’ve seen on TV, the Super Bowl week is media bliss, so there will be plenty of opportunities to help.”
Schiller completed an internship with the NFL this past summer. She has also worked for Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics, the Washington Redskins and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.
“I am very excited for the opportunity, and I hope to learn a lot from my experience,” Schiller said. “I am interested in event planning and public relations, and there’s no better place to gain event experience than the Super Bowl.”
The students will find many Penn Staters as media members and public relations professionals at the Super Bowl. Members of that group include Michael Signora, who earned his Penn State degree in journalism in 1996 and now serves as vice president of football communications for the NFL; Marisol Renner, a 1997 advertising/public relations alumna who works as a publications and public relations specialist for the Baltimore Ravens; and Kimberly Jones, a 1991 journalism graduate who works as a reporter for the NFL Network. Jones also serves as a member of the advisory board for the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.