So my Public Relations Admin class was invited to Flagler College located in St. Augustine, Florida to speak with their sports marketing program and their PRSSA chapter about how our PR students work hand in hand with the athletics department at Georgia College & State University(GO BOBCATS!). Thanks to our wonderFUN professor Dr. Ginger Carter Miller who offered to bring us on this trip, we not only had an unforgettable experience in a beautiful city, but we networked and got some wonderful fresh perspectives and ideas.
Sunday we arrived in St. Augustine at the Renaissance Resort located at the World Golf Village(Pictured Left). A little later we dined at The Murray Brothers Caddyshack Restaurant right across the way. There, we were greeted by Dr. Margy Lang from Flagler College. Soon after, we were joined by Dr. Bernadette Twardy, also a Flagler professor. These two delightful ladies conversed with us about our ideas for all of the upcoming basketball games this season. Dr. Lang gave us some "swag" as Dr. Carter calls it.
Monday morning Dr. Lang brought us to the PGA Tour Productions building where we got a tour of the facility. We got to see all of the behind the scenes rooms which housed millions of dollars of videos and media equipment.
Later Monday we arrived at Flagler College where we met with Flagler's Sports Marketing students and presented to them our 'Mean in Green' campaign. Afterwards, we toured the school finally we attended both the mens and womens basketball games which I am proud to say we won. Aside from the rude students in the Flagler student cheering section, the game was great and the attendance was high for the size of their gym.
Tuesday we dined on the beach at the Beachcomber for breakfast. The sun radiated and we soaked up as much vitamin D as we could before we headed back to Flagler to meet with their delightful PRSSA chapter. Though only a few students were able to attend, we gained a great deal of valuble insight to how PR works at their school. Aside from PRSSA, their school has a PR agency called DOW Advantage PR. Students are hired on to the staff. The agency has gained a great deal of respect and clients are becoming more and more prestigious. Kudos to them! I think GCSU needs to do something like this to get students real life experience with real deadlines and real clients who are expecting a lot. Like us, they have an event where communication seminars take place, however theirs lasts a whole week instead of a day. I think a week would be a lot more to plan than PR day, however the experience and the networking students would gain from a whole week of speekers would be very worthwhile. Like them, we believe that networking is key in the communication industry, especially PR.
Now that we're back we've got some work to do. Our PRSSA chapter is still a toddler, but it is a 'baby einstein' really. For its age, it is doing so well.
More Soon,
GG
