From Devin Carroll, a Himmelrich PR intern who will be graduating in May from the University of Maryland in College Park, MD:
Having spent eight months working on the campaign, I was thrilled this morning to learn that my student team, composed of five seniors, was selected as finalists for the Public Relations Student Society of America’s (PRSSA) 2012 Bateman Case Study Competition. The annual competition is for public relations students at colleges and universities around the country to plan and implement a full public relations campaign. This year, the campaign topic for all 70 student groups was childhood obesity. Our team’s entry was chosen as one of the top three finalists and we will present our campaign in-person to more than 30 judges in Minneapolis next month.
Our program, Mission: FitPossible, was created to battle childhood obesity in underprivileged areas of Silver Spring, MD. Mission: FitPossible included 18 events with the Boys & Girls Club and YMCA of Silver Spring, multiple media hits online and in print, a frequently visited website, a Twitter account, a Facebook page and activities with many of the University of Maryland athletic groups.
After sharing this news with everyone in the office, I realized how my experience at Himmelrich PR helped me with the campaign process. Part of what I’ve worked on has been the firm’s social media monitoring and media tracking, which served as the foundation for my team’s formatting for Mission: FitPossible’s evaluation section of our proposal. As an intern, I am constantly exposed to people in the office pitching to the media. For Mission: FitPossible’s launch, I tried out my pitching skills by using Himmelrich PR’s approach to media relations. This helped my team reach our media goals and receive a lot of positive attention from local online and print outlets.