Senior India Matheson is starting her final-year on the hardwood for the Central women’s basketball team, but has much more in store for the end of the school year.

With a business administration degree specialized in human relations and supported by both an interdisciplinary studies and sports business minor, many business recruiters are looking forward to her graduation this spring.

“I’m going to graduate, and I want to get a human relations job that’s on the talent side,” Matheson said. “It’s all about development, coordinating, management and recruiting.”

Last spring, she was able to do just that with a limited non-annual internship at Nike’s headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., where only one percent of an estimated 23,000 applicants were accepted.

“My aunt works down there and she suggested that I get in touch with some people there,” Matheson said. “I looked them up through LinkedIn and applied in January, the interview process lasted roughly three months, but I got it.”

The interview process was broken down into three sections.

Starting with the introductory interview to make sure everyone was on the same page, followed by the secondary interview that made sure she was qualified and finally a third interview was held by the head manager to make sure she knew what she and her partner would be doing at the business.

“She wanted to hire someone highly analytical and numbers-based, and I said that wasn’t me but I can work on it,” Matheson said. “She kind of laughed and said that that would be my partner. My job was more goal-oriented, communicative, personable and focused on problem-solving.”

Despite the title of an internship, Matheson and her partner were doing the workload of a full-time position that Nike needed.

“I had to create a cross functional job rotation training program from scratch,” Matheson said. “This was to help with payroll and data-management. This helps the current employees by taking them from one function and putting them in a training position in another field in the HR department.”

To complete this task most workers must have a good work ethic, a talent that can be seen throughout the majority of Matheson’s work.

Head coach Jeff Harada is not surprised by all that Matheson has achieved in the year he has been at Central.

“Last year was my first year and she was someone that didn’t play a lot her first two years, but she was eager to learn and to practice,” Harada said. “She was able to learn and grow both physically and mentally and become a big contributor for us.”

Harada recognizes Matheson’s work ethic on the court, as well as off.

“I think her work ethic coincides for business, and I can see why she was chosen.

I wasn’t surprised at all,” Harada said. “She’s caring and she’s fun to be around. We tease her by referring to her as the mother figure of the team, she’s always positive and cheerful and genuinely happy for her teammates’ success.”

A supporter for Matheson for her internship and post-college planning is her advisor Nancy Pigeon.

“Nancy Pigeon, my advisor, helped me talk to the recruiters and gave me a lot of advice. She’s still helping me and has been one of the most helpful people in this endeavor.”

Pigeon is an associate professor that has been teaching business law, sports law and human resource management classes at Central for the last 17 years.

“I’ve consulted her on a lot of different things. I had her in class and she was a great student,” Pigeon said. “I’m there to help her with negotiations. Depending on how much they want you, and how much you need the job, decides who has the upper hand for negotiation.”

Pigeon has helped Matheson with options such as working out starting dates, marketing herself and overall counseling.

“India is a bright student. I think she does a great job managing her time as both an athlete and a Douglas Honor College student. She’s a lot of fun to teach, to have in class and to mentor,” Pigeon said. “She’ll reflect well on Central when she graduates.”