Estacar Companies has been the stepping-off point for many new professionals in the past ten years through their internship program that spans disciplines from finance to design and communications. One such intern, Morgan Nix, served a dual role for Estacar as an intern and a tennis professional at the TGC Athletic Center. She made quite an impact in both roles.
Morgan is originally from McKinney, Texas. She grew up playing tennis and trading lessons to the ten and under crowd for her private lessons. As a top 10 Texas Junior Player and one of the top 100 junior players in the country, Morgan went on to play for Cleveland State University and continued to teach junior clinics.
She continued her collegiate and tennis career at the University of Texas in Austin and taught all age groups in private lessons and group classes at Austin Tennis Center. She planned and organized tournaments at the Tennis Center and taught the players throughout tournament play, including serving as the student athletic trainer for the University of Texas Men’s and Women’s Tennis Teams attending all matches, practices, and tournaments during the last year of her undergraduate work.
Once immersed in her doctorate work at Texas Tech, Morgan knew it was essential to stay engaged in playing and teaching tennis and wanted to find a path to both. She dropped off her resume at the TGC Athletic Center in Amarillo, where she and her brother once played tennis. She was soon hired by Cori Burns, owner of TGC Athletics and CEO of Estacar Companies, as a Tennis Pro for the Center.
While working at the Center and towards her doctorate, Morgan began to pursue a second master’s in Finance through Harvard Extension School, following a lifelong love of numbers. This new academic challenge dovetailed nicely with emerging opportunities at Estacar, and she was offered a Financial and Accounting Internship, working with Crosslake Fiber. Crosslake is an innovative, next-generation network fiber company with domestic and foreign operations and client of Estacar. Morgan helped with basic bookkeeping, reports, and billing in that role.
A year later, as she concludes her internship and finishes the academic work for her Doctorate in Physical Therapy, she commented on the important lesson learned in her time with Estacar and TGC Athletics. Morgan stated, “Take time and appreciate the small things; you don’t have to rush. Enjoy being where you are.” She said, “With 5,000 things going on, I could go out and hit with little three and four-year-old kids that are so happy and chatting away, giggling and playing games, and think I just need to enjoy this moment.”
When asked to name her most significant accomplishment, she named the development of the youth tennis program at the TGC Athletic Center. Morgan coached young children in the Ragin’ Rackets and Little Lobbers programs to the 17-year-olds in the Junior Tennis Drill and Play program. Her favorite part is “…seeing them improve and being happy they improved too!” She also felt those involved would continue to play tennis over their lifetimes, a win for them and the sport.
Morgan named the most surprising element of her internship as the relationships she formed on the court and in the office. “I went to work just to keep tennis in my life and to keep playing tennis and did not expect to create the relationships I have created.” And stated the most significant learning moments at Estacar were spent observing meetings and watching how CEO Cori Burns made decisions and dealt with everyday tasks of running her business. “It was impactful and eye-opening.”
As Morgan moves on to her clinical work over the next year, she takes with her the necessary and lasting experiences that can only result from time in a professional internship. Paired with her hard work and dedication, the lessons learned in building strong professional relationships, time management, client support, and the art of present-mindedness will follow her thought out her career and support her growth and success.