A Look Back at Scotties and the Super Bowl

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity for Students and Staff

By Nicholyn Hutchinson

When it comes to sports, usually the remarkable Scottie spirit is reserved for Agnes Scott College Athletics games, but when Super Bowl LIII was held in Atlanta, several students and alumnae devoted their efforts to supporting the event in different, impactful ways. The big game may be over, but the pride in their contributions continues.

When Super Bowl LIII was held in Atlanta in February 2019, along with the excitement and thousands of visitors came diverse opportunities for the metro Atlanta-area communities to be a part of the worldwide famous sporting event.

For Agnes Scott College, this involvement was through working and volunteering for different NFL activities, such as the NFL House and the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

A number of students and staff volunteered at the NFL House, a special hospitality venue in downtown Atlanta for Super Bowl guests. Open only for the three days leading up to the big event and providing a sports-meetsentertainment experience, the NFL House hosted a variety of relaxation spaces where guests could enjoy games, music and food. Students and staff went through training for roles such as hosting, game assisting and access control, and they were able to keep their Super Bowl-branded volunteer uniforms as souvenirs.

The process for the college’s participation began early through a meeting with the Super Bowl LIII Host Committee in which Danita Knight, Agnes Scott’s vice president for communications and marketing, asked if there were opportunities for students to participate.

“I was thrilled when I got the call asking if our students and staff would work as paid staff at the NFL House, an experience that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them,” says Knight. “Scotties interacted with NFL owners, athletes and corporate guests. I was not at all surprised by the rave reviews they received.”

“We were the first college to be asked to work at an NFL House in this capacity. I suspect we will not be the last, based on the great experience our students and staff provided for guests visiting the venue,” she adds.

Agnes Scott College students and staff took a tour of the Super Bowl LIII’s NFL House, which was located in downtown Atlanta, as part of their training.

Jennifer Duncan, assistant director of the college’s Center for Student Involvement, who helped with logistics, notes that students were overwhelmingly positive about their experience at the NFL House.

“The students told me that they thoroughly enjoyed their time at the NFL House and would do it again if given the chance,” Duncan says. “They liked getting to work together and gaining professional experience in the sports industry.”

Agnes Scott cheerleaders and the Royalettes dance team were invited to serve as extras in the Super Bowl Halftime Show, which averages 100 million viewers. They rehearsed with hundreds of other extras for several days—first at the Georgia World Congress Center and then at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium field—along with musical performers Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi. When the moment came on game day, they rushed onto the field from one of the tunnels for the live show.

“We danced like fans at a concert around the field and stage, and some of us had jobs holding lanterns at one point,” says cheerleading coach Daisy Bourassa, who received the invitation and was also an extra. “It was such a neat experience for the students to be part of. We all had so much fun!”