HALEY MANJACK
VOLLEYBALL
Why did you choose Embry-Riddle?
The main reason was the football (soccer) program and how well established it was in ranking to other schools. The location and climate in Daytona Beach are also very attractive for someone coming from Scandinavia and the cold of Sweden. Put all of this together with the good reviews about the education in general, and you can imagine that it was an easy decision.
What’s your fondest memory about your time as an ERAU student-athlete?
To be part of the men´s soccer team where we had players from so many different countries, which I also have the pleasure of still calling my friends today. Apart from that, I am also proud to say that I was the captain of the team and scored a few goals in my years at ERAU. That does not happen often I can tell you that.
What do you remember most vividly about your time at ERAU?
The graduation day is something that still makes me smile today. I had my whole family there including grandparents and cousins. We also celebrated with a road trip through Florida, which gave me time to reflect and look back on 4 of the best years of my life. It is hard to point at specific memories here and now, but they always come back when I meet up with fellow students and players from the time when I was there.
What do you miss most about being a student-athlete?
The togetherness amongst the whole ERAU Athletic Department all the way from us student-athletes to coaches and staff. You will never be as close in any environment with teammates or colleagues after graduating I believe. I miss traveling across the whole of the US representing the school on and off the pitch.
What was your major?
Business Administration Marketing.
What did you do right after graduating from ERAU?
I did an internship at Lufthansa Technik in Miami for a few months before moving back to Sweden and applying for jobs at both SAS and Lufthansa.
Tell us a little bit about what you’re doing now?
I am now based in Sweden but working for Lufthansa as a Performance Management Expert in a team spread across the whole of Scandinavia, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and the Baltics. The main part of my role is to do analytics of the Lufthansa Group performance in our region, but I am also heavily involved in our joint venture collaborations and here especially with United Airlines and Air Canada.
How did your experience at ERAU shape your career path?
I can admit that I was not an aviation geek when I first started at Riddle and my time there really guided me into an interest I might not have discovered at any other university. In my third year, I knew that I wanted to do something within aviation after graduating. If it was working for an airline or an airport, I was not sure, but it had really caught my interest. Today, many of my friends are calling me an aviation geek.
What are some lessons you learned at ERAU that have served well in your life after college?
Apart from all the insights to the aviation industry, and being amongst many talented students, I think both playing and working with people from different cultures all around the world. Lufthansa Group is a worldwide company and we have many nationalities only in my team. In every class I took at Riddle, I believe there were representatives from more than 50% of the continents of the world.
What personal or professional accomplishment are you most proud of since you graduated?
Ever since I knew that I wanted to work with something in aviation, I never stopped exploring opportunities and networking within the industry. My two internships I did was at an airport and then on the technical side of Lufthansa. It gave me good insights to what I liked and disliked. The position I have today focuses more on the commercial side of the airline and I do tell people that I now have my dream job. That makes me proud!
What advice do you have for ERAU’s current student-athletes?
Internships! The difference for me when I graduated was really the two internships I had done. Aside from adding to my resume, it also created a business environment where I could start to build important connections. Talking about connections, I believe they were also the key for me to be able to do the internships. In addition, you need to be open for networking to anyone at any point in time; you never know what opportunities that will give you. The job I have today somehow started with me talking to a man in a toilet queue!
What do you like to do away from work? Hobbies? Fun experiences/excursions?
Travel in general and football more in particular. I still play football (soccer) on a semi-professional level but also travel all around the world to watch football and especially my team, Arsenal Football Club. In terms of travel, I also have a lifelong goal of visiting over 100 countries as well as ticking off every state in the US.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Following a second-straight trip to an NCAA II regional in 2022-23, expectations are high for Embry-Riddle men's basketball. Head Coach Steve Ridder discusses his incoming class, which includes highly-touted Columbia transfer Cameron Shockley-Okeke, and how he believes his large senior class will make an impact.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Head Coach Lisa Wilson speaks about her incoming class and some key returners, including last year's top two scorers in Madyson Jean-Louis and Keturah Balabyekkubo. She also touches on the goals her squad has set for the upcoming season.
MALE ATHLETE OF THE MONTH
FRESHMAN/NOVICE EIGHT BOAT - MEN'S ROWING
The boat that won the Men's College Freshman/Novice Eights at the Head of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia, took home the Embry-Riddle Male Athlete of the Month award. Dominic DeNiro, Nicolas Villanueva, James Zbitnoff, Connor Goepfert, Hayden Lesser, Jack Hobart, Jake Blackmon, Ben Kerns and Connor Matthews (coxswain) all rowed the Eagles to first place in the event on their first try at it in program history. While they were in second place at both the St. Joe's and Angels splits, they managed to push in front to win with a time of 12:12.479.
FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE MONTH
LOA JOHANNSSON - WOMEN'S GOLF
For Female Athlete of the Month, the award goes to Loa Johannsson of women’s golf. The sophomore native of Championsgate, Florida had a strong month with a top five and a pair of top 15 finishes. Johannsson had the team's first below-par round of the season at the Flagler Fall Slam and tied for the seventh-lowest 36-hole score in program history at that tournament with a 143. She also tied for the fourth-lowest 54-hole score in program history at the season-opening Golfweek D2 Fall Invite.