For over 25 years, the Manning Passing Academy has been the nation’s premier offensive football skills camp for up-and-coming quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends. The four day summer clinic is hosted by one of the most famous American football families — the Mannings. Archie, Cooper, Peyton and Eli rely on the University of Oregon Athletic Ambassadors team to support the annual operation at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Lousianna. 
During MPA, 1,200 teenage campers learn football fundamentals, techniques, strategy and sportsmanship from a highly selected staff of college players, including Oregon’s Ty Thompson, and coaches representing all levels of football from high school to professional. Meanwhile, 22 Oregon Athletic Ambassadors develop counselor camaraderie and learn professional skills from one another.
Nishant Mukherjee, who is entering his senior year at the UO, has worked at MPA since he was a freshman. As the director of personnel, Mukherjee is responsible for recruiting MPA staff and ambassador members, leading daily ambassador staff meetings during camp and directing the general day-to-day operations of the ambassador staff. 
The camp is a non-stop grind, not just for the campers, but especially for the counselors. Mukherjee said they are sometimes working 22-hour days. “The long and intense hours put us in a delusional state where we are sort of ‘trauma bonding,’” Mukherjee said. This unorthodox team building creates some of the best memories for Mukherjee. 
“Even through the chaos and anxiety-inducing aspects of the camp, I genuinely enjoy the opportunity to foster friendships, build relationships and all of the things that go into MPA,” Mukherjee said.
Mukherjee was the 2023 recipient of the Osiel Mendoza Award, an honor that bears much significance to the Oregon Athletic Ambassadors and MPA staff alike. Mendoza was part of the first cohort of UO Athletic Ambassadors to attend MPA in 2016. However, a few months after working the camp during Mendoza’s senior year at UO and three days after he asked his high school sweetheart to marry him, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Despite the worsening disease progression, Mendoza kept returning to camp with the same positive attitude and inspiring work ethic. 
“When you meet or talk to Osiel, or even when you hear other people talk about him to you, it becomes very clear why there is an award named after him,” Mukherjee said. The award is given to the ambassador who best ‘embodies the spirit and life’ of Mendoza — someone who sees an obstacle as an opportunity and ‘who gets up even when he can’t’.” 
Last year, UO senior ambassadors Ellie Johnson and Sam Rubenfeld created the Fight Against ALS Dunk Tank Challenge as another way to pay tribute to Mendoza’s legacy at MPA. Throughout the clinic, campers and staff dunk each other using a football to raise money for the Gleason Foundation, a New Orleans-based organization dedicated to serving individuals with ALS. 
“Ellie has done a great job of leading the dunk tank, last year and this year,” Mukherjee said. “She is one example of why senior ambassadors have increased responsibilities and a delegated domain because they show new ambassadors how to work hard and improve this camp experience for themselves and those around them.” 
Johnson, also known as “Dunk Tank Girl” at MPA, was the director of special events and scoreboards. “Getting to do the Dunk Tank each year is extremely special and meaningful to me because I know it is super important to Osiel, the ambassadors and MPA,” she said. 
This is Johnson’s fourth year working with MPA. The southern England native also worked with MPA sponsors to collect video advertisements, still-graphics and post the content on social media. Going into this year, Johnson thought this would be her last summer at MPA as she is off to England at the end of August for graduate school. However, following this year’s camp she is rethinking the possibility of returning, but potentially with less responsibilities.
“Hopefully, I will still run the dunk tank next year,” Johnson said, “but everything else I think it is time to pass those roles to other people because we have a great team who is capable of handling those responsibilities.”
The love of football has been passed down from generations in the Manning family, just like how the role and responsibilities of the MPA are passed down to young ambassadors. The senior ambassadors, like Mukherjee and Johnson, have set a solid foundation and example for the younger, first-time ambassadors at camp. 
Olivia Bachman, a rising sophomore at UO, was accepted into the ambassador program in Spring 2023. When Bachman learned about the camp, she eagerly jumped at the opportunity to attend. From what she had heard from her peers, MPA afforded her a “chance to get to know the other ambassadors and develop a newfound sense of camaraderie between the group.”
For Bachman, MPA was the first of many experiences where she would represent Oregon athletics. In Eugene, Bachman was hired to work with the Hayward operations team. Although she will soon specialize in Oregon track and field, the transferable skills she gained from the MPA football camp proved transferable in any sports scene or industry. From shuttling incoming campers and staff arrivals to campus, and putting up sponsored signage in the stadium, to doing daily dorm wake ups and night checks, Bachman was busy under the southern sun.  
“I think this camp taught me valuable skills that I can apply to different areas in athletics,” Bachman said. “During camp I operated at a high standard, but I still managed to appreciate where I was and actively engage with the rest of the staff.” 
Despite her overall enjoyment at the camp, she also saw areas of MPA that could be improved to make the event a more seamless and efficient operation. When she returns to MPA next year as a senior ambassador, she hopes to put her ideas into fruition. 
MPA not only caters to offensive skills positions for the nation’s future football prospects, it fosters friendships among ambassadors and career development opportunities for Oregon’s aspiring athletic professionals.