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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: DAVID SMITH

SWITCH TO RPTA WAS RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

By Laurel Thomson (RPTA '15), Staff Writer

David Smith (RPTA '97), president of the Los Angeles Angels' RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program, found his recipe for success with Cal Poly's RPTA program. When he first matriculated to Cal Poly, Smith was an Engineering Technology major. Soon thereafter, Engineering Technology was cut as a major due to budget issues, and Smith found himself looking for a home. During his first quarter at Cal Poly, he worked as a Basketball official for Recreational Sports. His supervisor was an RPTA senior, which is where he first learned of the RPTA major. When his major was cut, Smith officially transferred into RPTA and declared sport management as his emphasis area. Smith continued to work for Recreational Sports and later went to become an Intramural Sports Supervisor. He claimed that because he was an athlete "sports and recreation [were] in [his] DNA." This made RPTA a perfect fit for him.

When he transferred into the RPTA major, there were two full-time and four part-time facultyand 175 students. It was a small program, which meant that all the students and professors were close; it made it a "real family atmosphere," said Smith. Throughout his time at Cal Poly, Smith remembers his RPTA classes really connecting students to real life companies, allowing them to apply the lessons they learned. He specifically remembers one time when his class was assigned to plan the San Luis Obispo Christmas parade, and he was the project leader. He says he still " can't believe [they] were given so much responsibility," but remembers the sense of accomplishment he felt after seeing the joy on thousands of parade attendees faces. The RPTA program taught him valuable lessons that he still uses to this day.

After Cal Poly, Smith went on to get a Master's from Middle Tennessee State University, where he also had a graduate assistantship as an Intramural Sports Supervisor and Marketing Manager. From there, he took his first job as the Sports Director at the Atlanta Athletic Club. As president of Angels RBI, a national youth outreach initiative that partners with the Los Angeles Angels to provide baseball and softball for youth who would otherwise not be able to experience these games, Smith credits his experience in the RPTA program at Cal Poly for making professional standards and integrity the "cornerstones" of his education. Thanks to the RPTA program stressing and applying these standards consistently throughout his time at Cal Poly, he learned the "right way" to do things, which has proven to be valuable numerous times in his career.

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