By Jacob Saylor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hood College welcomed new sports information director Matthew Gelhard this semester to fill the spot after long-time SID Geoff Goyne left<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gelhard attended Linganore High School and then went on to graduate from Penn State University this past December. He moved back to his hometown of Mt. Airy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While attending Penn State, Gelhard was a strategic communications intern with Penn State Athletics, where he worked mainly with the football team for the past few seasons. This internship included statistics and the backgrounds of many opponents the school had played. He also assisted in some of the media backgrounds. Gelhard added that there are many tasks he learned during this internship relate to tasks he does every day at Hood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gelhard also freelanced for the Associated Press, where he covered events like the Little League World Series and the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup in New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy job is to be the best expert on our student-athletes, be a rules expert in each sport as we start each game, be able to run every home athletic event, create multimedia for the department, submit office documents to the NCAA and MAC on our athletes, organize and maintain all schedules and rosters, write recaps and features and much more,\u201d Gelhard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the job demands many long days where he finds himself getting up early and staying up late, h says he enjoys it and his \u201cpassion is to promote and celebrate all of our student-athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gelhard added he is looking forward to making an impact on the student-athletes, staff and the community, and helping people feel connected not just to the teams, but also to the athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final thing Gelhard dreams about for Hood is big student sections and positive community interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want to see the program grow and prosper and continue to have people show their Blazer pride,\u201d Gelhard said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"