Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

NASCAR Intern Helps Promote Fan Experience, Leads to More Opportunity

Monday, October 24, 2016, By Kathleen Haley
Share
alumniCollege of Visual and Performing Arts
Two people at trophy

Peri Karslioglu with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski in Victory Lane after the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo provided by NASCAR)

Peri Karslioglu ’16 was looking for a senior capstone project when she came across a listing for the NASCAR Diversity Internship Program. She never imagined where it would eventually take her.

Karslioglu, of Fairfax Station, Virginia, was one of 26 students selected nationwide to participate in the summer program and quickly learned all about America’s favorite spectator sport. The opportunity also led more recently to a permanent position with the organization as a marketing coordinator.

“I love how quickly I was immersed into the motorsports industry,” Karslioglu says. “The internship showed me all different parts of the motorsports industry from the engineering of the cars to the NASCAR Production Studios to the ISC Call Center and the Speediatrics Unit at Halifax Health Medical Center.”

Peri Karslioglu ’16

As she initially searched for internships last spring, Karslioglu saw the listing for NASCAR and spotted the posting specifically for the NASCAR Foundation, which offered both marketing and event opportunities.

“I wasn’t sure which area I wanted to focus; therefore I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try both,” says Karslioglu, who graduated in August with degrees in sport management from the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and communication and rhetorical studies from the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

The NASCAR Diversity Internship Program is a 10-week, paid internship that brings on multicultural undergraduate and graduate students with high academic standing. Interns assist with projects, network with industry leaders and volunteer throughout the program.

She applied, got an interview and heard back from the organization two days later.

“I had my roommate read the email to make sure it was real. I was very excited when I read the good news,” Karslioglu says.

Karslioglu began the 10-week paid internship in May at the NASCAR Headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida. Assigned to the NASCAR Foundation, Karslioglu worked with the marketing team to create content and graphics for social media posts on the foundation’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

The program exposes college students to employment opportunities in departments within the sanctioning body or with organizations that NASCAR partners with to enhance the fan experience. Interns get a real look at the business behind the scenes and gain insights into possible careers.

Karslioglu also assisted with the development team on fundraising initiatives, such as the placement of NASCAR pins and bands in Daytona Beach restaurants in exchange for donations.

“I was also in charge of planning and executing a theme night at the Daytona Tortugas, a minor league baseball team, to generate awareness and fundraise for the NASCAR Foundation,” Karslioglu says.

Peri Karslioglu at the NASCAR R&D center in Concord, North Carolina. Photo provided by NASCAR

Along with the foundation activities, Karslioglu made it to the track and some of the sport’s most exciting events.

She attended the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in Charlotte and the Coke Zero 400 in Daytona Beach, where she met NASCAR personalities in the garage, observed the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars go through inspection and watched the race right from pit road.

“My favorite part was meeting NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski in Victory Lane at the end of the Coke Zero 400,” Karslioglu says. “The opportunity to celebrate with Team Penske was an unforgettable experience.”

Karslioglu enjoyed the opportunity and hoped it would lead to more experiences in the sport—and it did. She was offered, and accepted, a full-time position working with the NASCAR Foundation as a marketing coordinator in Daytona Beach, Florida.

“This internship introduced me to the world of motorsports,” she says.

 

 

  • Author

Kathleen Haley

  • Recent
  • Activities for the Weekend of April 22-25
    Thursday, April 22, 2021, By News Staff
  • Annual Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholar Convocation to Be Held April 30
    Thursday, April 22, 2021, By News Staff
  • Watch Pomp and Ceremony of the 104th Chancellor’s Review Award Ceremony Live on April 23
    Wednesday, April 21, 2021, By Brandon Dyer
  • Chancellor Syverud Provides Updates to the University Senate
    Wednesday, April 21, 2021, By News Staff
  • Let’s Talk About Current Issues Welcomes Open Dialogue
    Wednesday, April 21, 2021, By Gabrielle Lake

More In Arts & Culture

‘Exhibition Interrupted’ to Honor Work of Retiring Professor Anne Munly

“Exhibition Interrupted,” a display of work designed by School of Architecture Professor Anne Munly, will open Tuesday, April 27 in the Slocum Hall Marble Room and online. Munly is retiring at the end of the spring 2021 semester following more…

Architecture Instructor Wins 2021 Ragdale Ring Competition

Almost Studio, a Brooklyn-based design practice co-founded by Anthony Gagliardi, School of Architecture instructor, and Dorian Booth, Yale School of Architecture lecturer, along with junior designer Isabella Calidonio Stechmann ’20 (B.Arch), recently won the 2021 Ragdale Ring competition for their…

Architecture Student Named to Future100 List in Metropolis Magazine

Vedyun Mishra G’21, a graduate student in the School of Architecture, has been selected for Metropolis Magazine’s Future100, an elite group of architecture and interior architecture students from the U.S. and Canada. The inaugural award recognizes the top 100 graduating…

LLL Provides Students a Virtual Taste of Italian Food and Culture

When Syracuse University students finish up the fall semester and travel home for Winterlude, they may be left missing the sense of community and intellectual nourishment they get from classes and their friends. To provide students with a unique learning…

Department of Drama Releases Digital Senior Showcase

The Department of Drama in the College of Visual and Performing Arts introduced its acting and musical theater Class of 2021 today, April 12, via a new website: SyracuseShowcase.com. The website offers a digital version of the department’s annual Lewis…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.