Much of the work that brings the CESJDS sporting teams’ spirit to life happens behind the scenes, through social media and content creation. From mic’ing up players to producing highlight reels, the Athletic Social Media Interns ensure that season highlights are shared with fans beyond the court.
The Athletic Social Media Intern program started in November 2024 when Director of Athletics Becky Silberman decided t expand JDS athletics’ social media presence. Initially, Silberman reached out to the Student Athletic Leadership Committee to gauge interest. When there was limited response, she opened the application to all high school students.
“My vision was basically getting more content that’s more accessible to high school students, ” Silberman said. “ … I was the only one managing our Instagram.”
For the application, students provided Silberman with a sample post. Silberman selected freshman David Loeffler, sophomore Brielle Bassin and junior Ella Arking. Together, they manage the JDS Athletics Instagram account under the username @cesjdsathletics, posting about upcoming games, sharing scores, creating highlight reels and more.
Arking, Bassin and Loeffler share a passion for sports and social media and felt that this opportunity was the perfect melding of these two interests.
“I was interested in joining this program because this is exactly what I want to do as my job,” Arking said. “I want to go into social media marketing for sports, so it was the perfect opportunity for me. I just saw it and immediately signed up.”
Arking’s favorite content she’s made have been her mic’d up videos. She has done two basketball ones: one with senior Josie Silverberg which received 78 likes, and one with freshman Theo Pearlman, which received 186 likes.
There is no fixed schedule the interns must follow. They individually determine what content they want to create and take the initiative to film and edit it. Once the content is ready, they share it in a group chat so everyone is aware of
what has already been produced. They then send it to Silberman who posts it on Instagram.
The interns use Content Sports, a design software that helps all levels of sports teams make custom content. The software offers templates and tools for creating videos. During their first week as interns, they met with CEO and Founder of Content
Sports Ken Edwards, who taught them how to use the website.
For Bassin, the program is a fun way to engage with the JDS athletic community. She takes pride in seeing her work shared on the Instagram account.
“When I see my work on the Instagram … it makes me feel so proud,” Bassin said. “Especially
when other teams reposted it’s such a self accomplishment to see my work being recognized.”
Since none of the interns are seniors, Silberman hopes that they will continue next year. She is open to more participants applying in the future.
Bassin, Arking and Loeffler feel that they have learned useful editing and content creating skills. They hope to create more content for the community to enjoy.
“I love the freedom and creativity that I have with it, and it has really helped develop a lot of skills that I know that I’m going to be using more in college and hopefully in my career,” Arking said. “It’s such an amazing opportunity, and I truly think that if I went to any other school, I don’t really think that they [would] have these type[s] of opportunities.”
