When Michael Runde (’20) applied for an internship with the Washington Football Team, he didn’t think much of his chances to earn an interview let alone be hired for the position. After graduation, he was working as a video strategist at Honkamp Krueger in Dubuque and wasn’t really thinking about a significant change but submitted his name for the internship anyway.
“It looked like a cool opportunity, but I didn’t think some guy from a Division III school was going to really be considered,” Runde recalled. “I couldn’t believe it when they reached out for an interview.”
Washington hired the Dubuque native and he spent a year doing video production for the professional team. Working as an intern, he was able to gain a breadth of experiences and see multiple facets of how to promote the organization.
“There was a small group of us and we were able to really do a lot of different things. They gave us some flexibility and it turned out to be a great experience,” he said.
This past spring, Runde was able to translate that experience into a new position in the NFL when he landed a job as a digital video editor for the New England Patriots. In his new role, he creates video segments about the team and its charitable foundation to share out through its social media channels. Just three weeks into the job, he was turning around hype videos announcing the Patriots’ draft selections.
“It was an interesting experience. There were bursts of activity announcing each pick with long waits in-between. I still can’t quite believe I get to do this for my job,” he said.
Creating content for a professional football team is a far cry from where he was during his first year at Loras. Uncertain about what he was going to study and not certain he even wanted to stay at the College, a chance conversation with Craig Schaefer (’88), professor of media studies, prompted Michael to take a media studies class for his second semester. It changed the trajectory of his future.
“I thought, ‘why not?’ I was kind of interested, but I didn’t expect much to come out of it,” Runde said. “It turns out that I loved it and realized I wanted to take more media studies classes. That kept me at Loras and it turned out to be a great decision.”
Runde was involved with LCTV and did video work centered around athletics. For his capstone project, he worked with Ben Burkholder (’20), Ben Friedman (’20) and Pat Hunt (’20) on a documentary about the abrupt end of the 2020 winter athletics season due to COVID-19. That film, One Stolen Moment, was one of the experiences from Loras that led to his current position.
“I am a football fan and it is surreal knowing that my job is now working for an NFL team. I learned so much at Loras that has translated into what I do now. I guess it just goes to show that it is the education you receive, not the size of the school where you got it, that matters most.”
