Samantha Kilcoyne ’23

Boston Road Runners, Brookline, MA

This summer, I was a data analytics intern at Boston Road Runners, which is a non-profit organization with many components, including road races, two weekly run club workouts, races for run club members, and a youth initiative to inspire children in the Boston area to be active. This organization has been putting on road races since 2012.

The first part of my internship was spent editing the race registration data from earlier years into a uniform format that Boston Road Runners could use moving forward. I created a guide for future data collection and finalized the registration questions for 2021. I also built new surveys, including one about the pandemic, evaluating Boston Road Runners’ virtual alternatives.

Once all of the data could be combined, I created reports about Boston Road Runners: three reports for each year for the general public, sponsors, and donors. Based off of the information gathered, I offered suggestions about changes we could make or opportunities to explore. In 2019 and 2020, in addition to the race registration data, these reports also included engagement statistics from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, email, and the website. I also shared Boston Road Runners’ expenditures. These reports were the cumulation of the vast majority of the work I did and it was rewarding to follow the process all of the way through.

I was able to be involved with every step of data collection and analysis at various points in my internship, and I enjoyed how I was able to use data to show every aspect of Boston Road Runners to sponsors and the general public. I learned a lot about the best ways to ask questions and the pitfalls to avoid when collecting large amounts of data.

Additionally, this internship taught me fundamental business skills, especially communication, that will be applicable no matter what field I go into. Working remotely was a challenge because there is a lot lost in translation when reading a message or listening to someone’s voice. I learned how to phrase questions to get the information I was looking for and gained a lot of confidence. I also enjoyed collaborating with the other interns. Often, we were working on the same project at different times, so efficiently communicating our vision and updating our progress was essential. This internship was a great start into the field of data analytics and has inspired me to continue to pursue statistics.

Aside from the work I was doing, I appreciated virtually getting to know the Boston Road Runners and being welcomed into their community. I enjoyed seeing them share their runs online, and I am excited to watch the organization grow. I look forward to keeping in contact with these amazing people, and I owe a huge thank you to the Kraft Family for making this experience possible!