When the chaos of a football Saturday subsides, senior quarterback Jake Bates ’16 rests easier knowing that his immediate future is not entangled in the same turmoil as an all-out blitz. Thanks to off-the-field assistance from the Kenyon Athletic Mentorship Program (KAMP), Bates approaches his graduation having already secured a full-time job.
KAMP matches football players with alumni mentors who provide advice and assistance for student-athletes facing post-graduate decisions. Former Lord McNeil Parker ’10, with the assistance of former teammates and Head Coach Chris Monfiletto, adapted the idea from his work with the Northwestern University football program.
Bates, an economics major from Noblesville, Indiana, developed his interest in investment banking by joining Kenyon’s Economics Reading Group, a focus group that hosts guest lecturers and meets weekly to discuss economic issues. Through KAMP, Bates also began conversations with David Rose ’81, a senior vice president at Davenport & Company and a graduate of the Kenyon football team. With Rose’s guidance, Bates earned a summer internship as a public finance analyst, a position he’ll begin full-time after graduation.
“I was sending out resumes to bigger companies and got a few interviews, but I didn’t have that personal connection with any of them, and I think that was something that was holding me back,” said Bates, who urges his teammates to reach out to their mentors. Now all juniors and seniors on the roster are paired with at least one of KAMP’s 30 alumni volunteers.
“I think Kenyon football alumni know that if you go to Kenyon, you are a pretty sharp kid,” Bates said. “And they know that if you play football, you know how to communicate because you’ve had to do so consistently with teammates and coaches. You know how to work hard, how to balance a schedule and how to work collaboratively.”