Ben Kelson is interning at Fenway Park for a turf management course.

CHESHIRE, Mass. — Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox and one of America's oldest ball parks, has also become home for Cheshire native and 2012 McCann Tech graduate Ben Kelson for the summer.

 

Kelson, who attends Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., and majors in turf management, landed an internship for the spring/summer session with Fenway Park's grounds crew.

 

The turf management course is considered an accelerated course, Kelson said. He will be interning with Fenway Park for 10 weeks and then will return to school for another 10 weeks before completing the major.

 

Kelson came across the internship online and did some research prior to applying for it. Once he applied, he went through a series of phone interviews before he was offered the position on their summer grounds crew.

 

He started in mid-March; his duties include mowing and watering the grass, raking the infield, and making sure the field is game ready.

 

"I mostly go in at 7 o'clock in the morning and I am usually done by game time," Kelson said. "Sometimes I stay for the games, and if there's a rain delay I have to stay because we have to pull out the big tarp to cover the field."

 

Only a month into his internship, Kelson was awarded employee of the month, also known by Fenway crew as the Monster Service Award.

 

"I was shocked that I won it," Kelson said. "My boss told me I received it because of my positive attitude, I never give up, and I am always there with a smile on my face working to my greatest potential."

 

Kelson will spend his summer in Boston and will return to Rutgers at the end of August for the start of school. He feels that his internship will benefit his future because he has hopes to work for a Major League Baseball facility or a  state park as a head groundskeeper.