By: Hanna Stock & Daniel Kingery
Erin Bunker is packing away her soccer cleats and packing her bags for London to start her new career after graduation.
Bunker, a Business Administration graduate with a concentration in accounting and a minor in Spanish, is making a big career move to London come January 2020. She has accepted a job for National Indemnity Company (NICO) at Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Limited (BHIIL), assisting with quarter-end UK GAPP reporting and internal audit support.
Playing for UNO’s women’s soccer team for the past four years has prepared her for the massive life change. According to the NCAA, on average NCAA student-athlete graduate at a higher rate than the general student body.
“Being an athlete really has helped set me up with having discipline and knowing time management and to critically think under pressure,” Bunker said. “UNO as a whole has set me up perfectly just through the business college for finding a career post-graduation as well as during to help me find internships while in school.”
Fewer than 2% of NCAA student-athletes go on to be professional athletes. Education and academics are essential for student-athletes to set them up for success after their athletic careers end.
“There’s a wealth of resources for our athletes but they have to really be willing to dig in and take that extra step,” Lindsey Ekwerekwu, Senior Associate athletic director said. “My biggest challenge to them is to find the time and motivation when they’re tired, it’s one more thing they need to do but it’s truly to benefit them.”
There’s no question about how challenging it is to balance being a student and an athlete, but UNO makes it possible to set up all of their students for success with resources.
“When I first applied for NICO, I was sitting on a bus on my way to Memphis in the summer of 2018 and I’d never applied for a real job before so it was kind of a shot in the dark because I didn’t know if I would get a call,” Bunker said.
Bunker received a call back, and after the interview process she accepted an internship with the company which led her to earn a full-time position with NICO in the private field in London after graduation. She gives credit to her “good luck charm” Warren Buffett, who she met at a local breakfast chain just a week before the start of her internship at NICO.
“The best advice I could give new student athletes is to give 110% to academics than you would in athletics,” Bunker said. “You’ll always be an athlete; the main goal is a career and the professors at UNO truly want to help you and give you the best opportunities post-graduation to land a career that you love.”
