Honor Student Gets Schooled on Tough Job Market

Forget all those images of Animal House's Blutarsky: Syosset's Kevin Schultz isn't back home with his parents thanks to a double major of slurping Jello and supplementing his wardrobe with bed sheets.

Schultz' degree in sports and entertainment management from the University of South Carolina comes with a 3.6 GPA attached. He pulled those grades while working as a freelance NHL blogger for Fanhouse, a gig he still holds. And although his politics are his own business, his straitlaced coif that most Young Republicans would kill for never hurts in an interview.

And yet, in today's economy, all that's gotten Schultz is a morning chat on his mom and dad's living room couch trying to explain where the dream went. His bedroom is off-limits ("It looks like a bomb went off in there," Schultz admits), but that's less a product of laziness and more a consequence of wacky hours.

Not long after he's done being questioned he'll be on the LIRR headed toward Chelsea Piers, to his Wednesday-Sunday, 3 p.m.-11 p.m. stint managing a driving range in the sports complex. Twelve bucks an hour doesn't go far after all the travel expenses, but according to recent National Enquirer headlines at least one spot may be available on the PGA Tour.

"I'm not too much of a golfer, but I guess I could go pro in a few years," Schultz jokes. "I'll have some really good experience."

He tries to stay lighthearted, but truthfully his face reveals a few more worry lines than any conscientious 23-year-old should have to bear. One of his four internships was with the now-defunct New York Dragons of the the Arena Football League, so the writing was on the wall that May of '09 was not the best timing to be fresh out of college.

Of his closest friends at South Carolina, Schultz says, many are from the Northeast and all have returned home.

"Nobody was breaking down their doors offering them a reason to stay," Schultz says.

The "brain drain" that has sent countless young adults to the Southeast and other parts of the country for job opportunities and lower costs of living may finally be reversing. But that's of little consolation to anyone if there aren't living wages to come home to.

"You take AP courses in high school to get ready for college," Schultz says. "Then in college you do your internships. Every step of the way you do what you're supposed to do, then when it's time for me to take this last step nobody will take a chance on me."

Returning home is an adjustment for everybody, from the extra Costco bills for parents Robert and Laura to the awkwardness of Kevin courting his girlfriend of less than a year minus the customary bachelor pad. For better or worse, his better half can relate, as she's substitute-teaching while searching for a permanent classroom.

Schultz' support group largely consists of Halo video game battles with friends in other locations ("It's like a five-way phone call for guys"). He takes comfort in the upward mobility Chelsea Piers may offer, and he knows wherever he landed he was going to have to work his way up. For a guy who has sent his resumé all over the country and north of the border to several NHL teams, he just thought he'd have more options.

"I'd be left for dead if not for Chelsea Piers," Schultz says. "I'm grateful to them, but overall it's a little disheartening."

Full disclosure: Patch and Fanhouse are both properties of Aol.