story by Claire Miller
The city of Atlanta has played host to several major sporting events in the last few years – Super Bowl LIII, the SEC Football Championship, the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl and the American Marathon Olympic Team Trials, to name a few.
And Chaz Tookes has volunteered with each of these events as a student in the College of Education & Human Development’s sport administration master’s program.
“I pursued my master’s degree at Georgia State University because I felt this specific program would prepare me with the professional skills and knowledge to thrive in the sport industry,” she said.
In January, Tookes helped plan a series of on-campus panel discussions with representatives from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Atlanta Basketball Host Committee, when the NCAA Final Four was still scheduled to take place in Atlanta.
She was also named one of the 2019 recipients of the Mary Helen Huggins Memorial Scholarship in Sport Administration. This award, named for the former marketing services director for the Atlanta Braves and faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology and Health, is awarded to graduate students who demonstrate a high level of integrity and personal ethics.
“Receiving the award motivated me,” Tookes said. “To be recognized for my integrity and personal ethics was rewarding.”
As she finishes her master’s degree this semester, Tookes plans to apply for sport administration jobs and start working on her doctorate. And she hopes that the sport administration students coming after her will enjoy and take advantage of the professional connections and opportunities offered by the program and the city of Atlanta.