Cowper reflects on Rose Bowl experience as scholarship recipient
On Jan. 1, senior sports marketing and management major Ara Cowper was on the sidelines of the Rose Bowl — whose opponents included the Alabama Crimson Tide and Michigan Wolverines — as the Rose Bowl Game Keith Jackson Postgraduate Scholarship recipient. The scholarship includes $10,000 for graduate school and an exclusive Rose Bowl Game work experience.
While she was there, Cowper attended player and head coach press conferences, went to both team media days, and had meetings with the Rose Bowl game chief administrative officer and the management committee chair. Cowper also was able to shadow the group of people working on the Rose Bowl social media accounts, which is her area of specialty.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing,” Cowper said. “From meeting some of the most extraordinary people to being a part of a game that is so historic and incredible, I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity that I received. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
While at IU, Cowper has participated as an athlete on the rowing team and as an intern with IU Athletics.
Cowper said her time in high school as a sports photographer, yearbook editor, broadcaster, and journalist prepared her for everything she was going to tackle in college, including this experience.
“While I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, I knew it would be with the two things I loved most: sports and people,” Cowper said. “Sports and people have really driven me in my time here at IU, and I take my love for those two things and try to apply it to everything that I do.”
As for earning the opportunity to participate in this experience, Cowper went through an application process. She had to turn in college transcripts, a resume, an essay, a professional headshot, and three letters of recommendation as part of the application. Although Cowper said the application was only for seniors and graduate students, she found it when she was a college sophomore and set a reminder to apply for it when she was a senior.
“Honestly, I forgot about it until my reminder app on my phone went off this past fall,” Cowper said.
Cowper said her favorite part of the Rose Bowl experience was the people.
“Everyone was so kind to me and took the time to get to know me and answer my questions,” Cowper said. “It was incredible to see how people come together for the week of the Rose Bowl and accomplish an event of that magnitude.”