ELON, N.C. – Every May, Elon University holds its undergraduate and master's commencement ceremonies. This year, attending the master's commencement ceremony was a first for the Elon University volleyball coaching staff.
Graduate student defensive specialist Abigail Sparkman earned her Master of Arts in Interactive Media and became the first Elon volleyball player to complete a master's program while actively playing.
"After graduation, all the coaches had come up to me and they were like, 'You're a legend, you've done it. You're now our first master's graduate student. We've never been to one of these ceremonies before,'" Sparkman said. "I didn't even realize how big of a deal it is, just because everything flew by so fast."
Sparkman began her collegiate career at Presbyterian College and spent four seasons with the Blue Hose before graduating with majors in computer science and art in 2023. With two years of eligibility left, Sparkman wanted to further not only her volleyball career, but also her academic aspirations, and began to look into master's programs.
"I knew I wanted to go into web design or social media marketing, something in that realm," Sparkman said. "When I was looking at grad school, I didn't really know what there was out there that related to that."
With some preliminary research, Sparkman stumbled across Elon's Master of Business Administration and Master of Arts in Interactive Media programs. Immediately, the Interactive Media program stuck out to her.
"I was like, 'What's this?' I had no idea things like that existed," Sparkman said. "I think a lot of them are up and coming in some of the other programs across the country. I found it and also found the MBA program. Both of them were viable options to apply to, and then if I got in, great."
Sparkman's passion for media began while she was playing volleyball in high school and has only furthered in her collegiate career.
"Media has gotten so much better and has grown so much," Sparkman said. "It is so cool to me, being able to highlight student-athletes and show what they do outside of school. Going into college, I remembered thinking it was so cool that the NBA, MLB, all these major organizations are highlighting their athletes. I think that's kind of where it comes from, also being an athlete myself and wanting to do that for others."
Sparkman immediately got in contact with Elon's coaching staff once she found out she could apply to both the MBA and Interactive Media programs.
"I reached out to coach Willie [Whealen], and he emailed me back and was like, 'This is so awesome that you have two years of eligibility. We would love to get in contact with you,'" Sparkman said. "A week later, we got on a call and chatted a bunch. Willie actually knew some people from Idaho in the volleyball world. Usually people don't know anyone from out here, so that was a good connection. And then he was like, 'It's so cool that you want to go into Interactive Media. We've never had anybody try to do a grad program.'"
After her initial conversations with Whealen, Sparkman came for an official visit to Elon. Along with getting to see Schar Center and meeting the volleyball coaches, she was also able to meet David Lackaff, the director of the Interactive Media program.
Lackaff presented the program to her, highlighting the opportunity to study abroad during winter term in Barbados and the success of the program's alumni, both of which only drew her further to the program. She applied to the MBA and Interactive Media programs and was accepted into both.
"It was up to me at that point," Sparkman said. "I chose Interactive Media, it just seemed more right up my alley and what I want to do."
Once she secured her spot in the program, Sparkman officially committed to Elon and came to campus in July 2023 with the fellow Phoenix newcomers. When the rest of the team arrived in August, Sparkman built instant connections and was able to lean on her teammates during the transition to a new environment.
"My teammates have done such a good job of informing me on everything, because I feel as though I'm a freshman in some ways but I'm still way older than everyone," Sparkman laughed. "It was really helpful to have them, whether it's where to work on campus or helping me know which professor is which, all these other study spots around campus, just stuff like that. They helped so much, just figuring it out along the way."
When classes started in August, so did Elon's volleyball season. Sparkman had a difficult schedule to balance between practice, games and getting her master's degree.
"The first semester of the program is just one schedule. You don't get to pick your class times, so everybody's in the same classes all together every day," Sparkman said. "Most of my classes were 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the same building, the Long building, all day. That was kind of difficult to schedule, but we ended up making it work."
With the help of her coaches, she succeeded both in the classroom and on the court.
"I really could not do it without them," Sparkman said. "They kind of planned this all for me, and helped me get the right steps and go in the right direction. They checked up on me throughout the year, making sure everything was good. They did their best to make practices as convenient as possible for me, knowing that there's still 14, 15 other girls on our team that they have to cater to as well."
Along with her coaches, the Interactive Media professors were extremely impactful on Sparkman and aided her while she navigated her busy schedule.
"Professor Motley helped me a lot, just making sure I had everything planned out ahead of time and showing me what our schedule was for the year," Sparkman said. "And Professor Walsh, he's awesome. His classes are so fun, but he helped me a lot with having to leave class early. He would set up times with me during his lunchtime or my lunchtime, and figured out what I missed and went over things. He would Zoom record everything for me so that I could watch it while we were traveling. Those two professors really were spot on with helping me as an athlete figure everything out."
"The biggest difference and the biggest struggle was time management and figuring out, 'Oh, we're on the road next weekend, I need to complete stage four of my project by Friday before we go, so I'm a little bit ahead, so that when I get back, I'm right on schedule,'" Sparkman added. "That was really eye opening for me and figuring out how I work."
Along with her classes, Sparkman worked on her master's thesis throughout the year. Researching centenarians, people who live to 100, Sparkman created a website with information encouraging healthier lifestyles so more people can achieve centenarian status.
"It had a bunch of information on recipes, lifestyle information about the five blue zones, that's the hot spots researchers have found for people who live to 100," Sparkman said. "There's a bunch of information on that and just what these people are doing in their day to day lifestyles that we can implement in other places and hope to live to 100. Being able to do web design, graphic design, branding and identity, it was basically everything that I love into one project."
After presenting her master's thesis and officially graduating, this fall is sure to be less hectic for Sparkman. The newly appointed team captain is ready to enjoy her final semester and her last volleyball season.
"I'm just excited to feel like I can really focus on volleyball," Sparkman said. "And not that I didn't before, but it was just so much to juggle a new space, new team, new school, everything was just new. I feel like I've planted myself at Elon now, and that I can just focus in and hone in on the team, the girls and coaches, and we can have a really good season."
'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Chase Strawser at cstrawser@elon.edu.
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