Beyond Sports Internship Helps All-American Begin New Career

After a decorated career as a sprinter at South Carolina, criminals would be wise not to try to run away from Otis Jones (2016-2019). The former track & field student-athlete earned Indoor and Outdoor First Team All-American honors in the 4x400m relay during his time as a Gamecock as well Second Team Outdoor All-American honors in the 800m as a senior. Now he’s working with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department after a successful internship that was set up through South Carolina’s Beyond Sports Professional Development and Summer Internship Program.

“I have to do the minimum of three years on the road, but I would like to be able to go into criminal investigation and that’s what I’m working towards,” Jones said. “I think that this is a great steppingstone at the Richland County Sheriff’s Department to make it to investigations.”

Jones took part in the Beyond Sports Program in the Summer of 2017, which allowed him to participate in a summer internship at the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. Because of this, Jones finds himself in training and working as a Deputy Sheriff in the same department now that he has graduated.

“The Beyond Sports program had internships with all types of law enforcement agencies. The D.J.J. (Department of Juvenile Justice) and Richland County Sheriff’s Department were looking for interns and I was interviewed by the two,” Jones said. “I went to the Sheriff’s Department where they were accepting interns and I was asked to do a polygraph test. I was asked 100 questions while I was hooked up to the polygraph machine. After, they told me I had passed, and they offered me the internship and allowed me to work.

“I started the first day there with the Victims Service Unit. After that I worked with the Cold Cases Unit for a few days and then I went to the Aviation Unit where I was able to ride with the officers in the helicopters and airplanes. It was a great experience and I learned a lot from that as well as networking with lots of people.”

“If I didn’t do the internship, I think it would have been hard for me to be where I am.”

Jones managed to secure a job as a Deputy with the Sheriff’s department after graduating in the spring because of his great work during the Beyond Sports internship.

“When I got hired it was kind of easy going for me because at that moment, I had already done the polygraph test, and I was hired there right on the spot because I had done such a good job as an intern,” Jones said. “I started this year without needing to do the polygraph test again, and because of the connections I had made during the internship they set me up with the process of going through the academy.

“Right now, I’m going for my Class 1 legal Officer and hopefully I’ll be Class 1 certified for February. This means I’ll be on the road patrolling and able to do traffic stops, house calls, 911s and other things like that.”

There were other useful parts to the Beyond Sports Program which helped the student-athletes outside of their internships.

“Every Wednesday we did something different before we started our meetings for Beyond Sports. We would have two or three people come in and tell us what we would be doing at our internship sites, and we would always have something different. We would also have different seminars each Wednesday where we would have panels, such as people from the Business School, and we’d ask them questions and give us feedback to network,” Jones explained. “We also had people from the Law School come in to help us with interests in law. It was great to help with networking, and when we would get back to our internship site, we could get to know other people to help with our professions. It was great preparation.

“We also did trips to the Carolina Panthers’ facility to tour that and talk to people as well as a pharmaceuticals business in Charlotte. We also did some community service and cleaned up the town which I think was pretty unique and helped us all.”

Jones noted that he took part in Beyond Sports as he believed it was something he needed to add to his resume.

“I was asked if I had done any internships before taking part in Beyond Sports, and my answer was no. I think if you ask a lot of the student athletes the same question, they’ll say the same,” Jones said. “So, the academic side was telling me it would be a good thing to do an internship and pushed that in my mind. A lot of people who graduate don’t have any ideas and jobs in line. If I didn’t do the internship, I think it would have been hard for me to be where I am.

“The internship helped me get prepared for the whole idea of being in the workforce. I maybe didn’t know what the workforce was going to be like, and I think with Beyond Sports, it helped with that. Being able to go in everyday and see what it was like, it was an eye opener to me and helped me out a lot.”