Students get benefits of job without the pay
The Utah State University public relations program “would be among the largest public relations agencies north of the Salt Lake City area,” said Les Roka, public relations professor and adviser of Public Relations Student Society of America.
The students of JCOM 5300, PR Agency, don’t get paid, but they do real public relations work for actual clients.
Roka said the class “literally mirrors an actual PR agency.”
Troy Oldham teaches the 5300 class with Roka and said the class is “the largest PR agency in the state as far as the number of clients.”
Oldham came to USU in 2003. He worked for Microsoft doing PR and marketing sales for 12 years, and spent the last three of those years in Australia doing Internet development for the company.
He is now working on a book and documentary about people who have their dream job, with focus on outdoor recreation.
Oldham said they are running four clients in the Introduction to Public Relations class, three clients in the PR Cases and Campaigns class and five clients in the PR Agency class. That’s a total of 12 clients that USU students work for.
Journalism majors with an emphasis in PR are required to take either the cases and campaigns class or the agency class.
All of the students are seniors and are interviewed for the class, and they are selected based on performance and professionalism, Oldham said.
The agency class starts working for the companies right at the beginning of the semester, and they spend 10 to 15 hours a week on average working, Oldham said.
There are 21 students in the class currently, and they are divided in groups to work for five different companies, Roka said.
Students this semester are working with Microsoft Network (MSN), Chem Dry, a carpet cleaning company with headquarters in Cache Valley, SCO Group, a software company, AM Todd, a mint and botanical products company and Beaver Mountain. The companies rotate every year, Oldham said.
“MSN is launching a new service called Spaces,” Oldham said. The students’ research and focus on their audience – high school and university students – and what they are looking for.
“In essence they become a hired agency,” Oldham said.
Oldham also said the class benefits students because some companies hire the students that work for them.
“There’s no charge to the client,” Oldham said.
The students get real world experience and get to apply what they learn, Oldham said. “The work that comes out is every bit as professional as real public relations,” Oldham said.
The students write PR plans for their clients and conduct research about their client’s markets, do creative work, event planning, implement activities, write press releases, fax sheets and also produce a campaign document, Roka said.
Branigan Knowlton, president of PRSSA, is in the Agency course. He said he is working for Beaver Mountain, Bluewater Beach and Beavercreek, a resort destination and tourism attraction for Cache Valley.
“It’s really valuable,” Knowlton said. “I get a lot of experience with the help of professors.”
Knowlton said in PRSSA, students are “able to network and meet with professionals.”
PRSSA is a national student-run organization with 8,100 students in 250 chapters. PRSSA helps students build resumes and portfolios, create internships and prepare for networking and leadership and management positions.
The main goal of PRSSA is professional development and giving students a connection to their careers so they will be successful in public relations, Knowlton said.
Students can join PRSSA at USU and gain additional experience in public relations. For more information go to www.usu.edu/journalism/prssa/index.html.
-sdobson@cc.usu.edu