Student Story

Catawba found me.”

Alex Seufert is a senior here at Catawba. He is a Sport Management major with a minor in Business Administration. He has worked as the Assistant Sport Information Director in the Athletic Department for the last 4 years.

Alex learned about Catawba during his senior year of high school when he attended a college fair at one of his local community colleges. He said, “The smaller community feel caught my interest.” Alex knew he wanted to attend a college that was closer to Charlotte due to Charlotte’s involvement with NASCAR.

Originally, Alex wanted to attend a big school but loved the feeling of community here at Catawba so much that he changed his mind. Upon visiting Catawba, he was able to meet with the President in his office. He found this experience to be exceptional and not something that many other colleges offer. After receiving scholarship opportunities, Alex chose Catawba.

When asked what he likes about Catawba, Alex said, “I love that feeling of community. I’ve also loved working in the athletic department. I’ve gotten to work with a lot of the same people, and we’ve gotten close.”

He added, “I love the professors here. Their goal is to see you go be successful somewhere else. They help you further your education and career. They push you because they know you.”

For Alex, finding Catawba was one of those moments in life when everything comes full circle.

In 2015, Alex was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He received treatment in Philadelphia from November through December. He said, “Surviving that gave me a new outlook on life. I had a second chance, and I knew I needed to take advantage of it.”

During the time of his treatment and recovery, Alex qualified for Make A Wish. In May of 2016 he got to meet NASCAR star Jeff Gordon and was given a tour of Hendrick Motorsports. This was when he realized he wanted to work in Motorsports Marketing and needed to attend a college that would give him the opportunities to be around racing.

This was when he found Catawba. He felt like this was one of those full circle moments because he wanted to be close to the racing industry in North Carolina and Catawba allowed for that.

During his time at Catawba, Alex worked as the PR and Marketing Intern with Richard Childress Racing. He learned about marketing, campaigning, and partnership marketing. He got to work with sponsors, travel locally, help with meet and greets, work with fans, write features, and much more.

Alex was also a part of the Inaugural Internship Class for the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. He was 1 of 5 Catawba students that interned with the minor league baseball team. “We got to experience everything that went into a baseball game, such as ticket sales, facility operations, promotions, marketing, and more. I got to work with some amazing people,” said Alex.

He said, “I wouldn’t have had these opportunities without Catawba.”

Today, Alex is in good health. His brain tumor has been stable since 2015 with no signs of growth. His doctors have noticed improvements and Alex believes the future is looking positive.