Ram Report: Work, study, play

Snow fell before the 2021 season’s first track and field meet. Nathan Watters ’23 tried to stay warm under two sweatshirts and by the end of the meet, the weather swung upwards to 85 degrees and Watters sported a new sunburn. Iowa’s unpredictable weather and the challenges of running athletic events does not faze Watters, who is not just a student-athlete who calls his teammates his family, but also a work-study student in the Athletics Department. 

Watters worked at the local rec center in his hometown of Maquoketa, Iowa, before coming to Cornell and sometimes still puts in a few hours when he is back home. At Cornell he started as a ball boy and handled laundry for the department. Before long he was an assistant to the athletic director, tackling the twin projects of paperwork organization and documenting the trophies. 

Now he helps run athletic events under Athletics Communications Director Kerry Kahl and Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach Zach Schlabaugh, and there isn’t a team on campus that he hasn’t been involved with at some point. 

“He’s played a huge role in getting all of our webcasts up and running at every venue,” Kahl says, “but really anything we need he’s there to lend a helping hand with event setup. He’s been so valuable with a lot of behind-the-scenes elements in athletics. Very unselfish, true team player. Tireless worker. Great attitude. As loyal to the college as they come.”

The easy-going Watters is majoring in business administration with a minor in psychology and both seem like a good fit for this energetic senior. Early on at Cornell, he took a psychology course with Professor William Dragon—and the student who always knew he wanted to major in business clicked so well with Dragon that he decided to add on the minor. 

“It felt fun and it was so interesting to see how the brain works,” he says. “And the parts that explain how you can get people to work well as a team and work better as a unit, well, if I’m trying to be a business guy who wants to manage people, why don’t I learn how people can work better with psychology?” 

Watters is passionate about the concept of a team, in sports or in business. 

Much of his time at his work-study job, Watters sets up and manages the livestreaming that enables fans to watch the games without being there in person. He makes sure the sound system and cameras are set up and working. On the day of, he ensures everyone who is working the sporting event is where they need to be and ready to get their jobs done. 

“I show up 30 minutes early and make sure everything is set up for the game, and then I get to stay and watch my friends who are athletes play in the game. With the block plan, and class being done by 3 p.m., it’s easy to do athletics and work.”

Or it might be that Watters makes it look easy.

On a given day, he’s in class from 9–11 a.m. and 1–3 p.m., at practice by 3:30 p.m., heads up to the Hilltop Café for dinner at 5:30, and then returns to the Small Athletic and Wellness Center in time to prep for a basketball game. He stays for two hours or until the end of the game, hits the shower, and is studying for the next day’s class by 9 p.m.—the epitome of “work-study.”