Score! The Shippensburg Raiders Sports Information Office’s graduate students show us yet again that their motivation to reach the end “goal” of their career pays off with a Shippensburg University education.

Sean Laughlin, ’22 Enters First Academic Year as Athletic Communications Assistant at Muhlenberg

While attending Shippensburg University, Laughlin worked as a graduate assistant in sports information, directed by Bill Morgal, and was able to become skilled in photography and graphics, and was assigned to cover basketball.

“I was able to write a story about Ship football alumni T.J Smink and his fight with cancer, I was able to create a graphic when Ship basketball alumni Rashon Johnson reached 1,000 collegiate points, I digitized our football schedule back to 1891 and digitized most of our men’s and women’s basketball stats from over 50 years ago,” said Laughlin.

Now, through his position at Muhlenberg College, Laughlin is able to use the skills that he learned as a graduate assistant at Shippensburg University to help the students that he works with achieve their future goals.

“I thank Bill for so much of who I am today personally and professionally.”-Sean Laughlin

 

Braden Treaster, ’21 Sports Information Graduate Assistant, Begins Position at Newberry College in SC  

While Treaster attended Shippensburg University, he was a student assistant and then a graduate assistant for the Sports Information Office. He worked as the primary contact for baseball and men’s basketball and worked as a production assistant for the State College Spikes, a summer baseball team for the MLB draft league.

Treaster spent the 2022-2023 academic year as an Athletic Communications Assistant at Pittsburgh State in Kansas and was the primary contact for women’s volleyball and softball. Through the position, he helped with print publications, social media, and website communications. Treaster was hired this July by Newberry College as their Director of Athletic Communications for football, basketball, cheerleading, dance, e-sports, and field hockey. He and his staff will oversee the publicity of 800 student-athletes at Newberry, and cover home media event operations.

 

Nicole Hinkle, ’21 Enters Her Second Season as the Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Misericordia

Hinkle graduated from Wingate University, NC, and earned her degree in Sports Management. As a student-athlete, she was a four-year letter winner at Wingate and earned a South Atlantic League honorable mention as a defender during her senior year.

She attended Shippensburg University for graduate school and worked as a graduate assistant in sports information and as the lacrosse defensive coordinator and goalkeeper coach for 3 seasons. She is a goalie coach for the NEMS Lacrosse Club in Bel Air, MD.

During her first season at Misericordia, Hinkle led women’s lacrosse to a 10-7 record, and they made it into the MAC Freedom Championships.

 

Casey Saussaman, ’19 Works as Marketing Coordinator for the Hershey Bears

Saussaman attended Millersville University for her undergraduate degree in secondary English education, with a minor in journalism. During a journalism course, Saussaman had the opportunity to interview a Hershey Bears player and toured the arena.

“I fell in love with the idea of finding a way to incorporate sports into my career; the goal became hockey immediately. It’s such a great environment with the best people, and I couldn’t be happier,” Saussaman said.

During her time at Shippensburg University, Saussaman spent a year and a half as a sports information graduate assistant where she designed graphics, wrote game recaps, and produced game programs.

“I was fortunate to cover talented athletes and teams, but the highlight was traveling to Pittsburgh for the NCAA DII Field Hockey Championship and seeing the Raiders bring home the title in 2018,” Saussaman said.

Saussaman started with the Hershey Bears in April before the playoffs began. On July 21, 2023, the Hershey Bears won their 12th Calder Cup Championship in California.

“Jumping in at the most intense part of the season was the best introduction to working full-time in professional hockey,” Saussaman said.