Tom and other SDSU students taking a picture with a local little league baseball team at their field.Tom walked across the stage in the spring of 2023 to receive his bachelor’s degree in economics from Beloit College. Luckily, Tom had a plan and an opportunity he knew he couldn’t pass up right after graduating.

Tom's view of the San Diego Padres training field in the Dominican Republic.While at Beloit, Tom was a pitcher for the Beloit College baseball team, winning a conference championship and the Midwest Conference Tournament in 2023. During their run, he was coined with the nickname “Big Game Tom” for his continued clutch performances in must-win games.

He always had a love and passion for sports, especially baseball. He found and was accepted to San Diego State University’s Sports Management MBA program, which fit exactly what he wanted to do in the future.

The majority of the year-long program included a trip to the Dominican Republic. While there, Tom and his cohort learned about the business of baseball, visited major league academies, learned about local culture, and helped with community service projects.

The day-to-day learning in the Dominican Republic consisted of different trips and interacting with many different groups of people. “Most mornings, we would interact with the local community at either a school or a youth baseball organization,” he says. “In the afternoons, we’d tour an MLB academy.”

Tom and his classmates are greeted by a line of kids asking for autographs.“Each professional team had a facility where players from outside of the U.S., mainly the Dominican Republic, could live, train, play baseball, and take classes,” he says. This interaction with members of these academies turned his Beloit studies into practice and showed him the business of professional sports.

Tom described how these were some of his favorite memories of the long trip. He said talking with all the members of the community in different parts of the country, especially the younger baseball players who were so eager to talk to them, was a great experience. He even recalled a moment where he and his fellow classmates were swarmed by kids looking for autographs after returning from lunch.

His other favorite memory was the community service project they were able to complete. He addressed how a big problem facing the country is access to clean drinking water. “[As a class,] we were able to work with a company called Techno to provide water filtration systems for four houses in La Piña,” he says.

Tom (center) and his classmates help construct a water system in La Piña.It felt to be a part of something that really changed the way people lived, Tom says. “Being able to work with and give back to people who barely had a roof over their heads was extremely eye opening,” he says. But their work was definitely impactful.

Just having graduated and completing his masters degree only a few weeks ago, Tom paid thanks to the skills he learned at Beloit that helped him succeed and thrive through this experience.

“While at Beloit, I learned and improved skills that were essential for working as a team,” he said. “Whether it was my time on the baseball team, or the small class sizes and collaborative learning, I was able to excel while working with my colleagues at San Diego State.”