ADVANCING THE PROFESSION AND THE FUTURE PROFESSIONAL
FALL 2015
VOL. 48, ISSUE 1
www.prssa.prsa.org/FORUM
Partnership
With Purpose
BY GARY BRIDGENS PRSSA VICE PRESIDENT OF CHAPTER DEVELOPMENT
The Public Relations Student
Society of America (PRSSA) has
partnered with The Ron Clark
Academy for the 2015 Community Service Initiative.
The Community Service Initiative (CSI) is an established
tradition of charitable exchange
that stands to give back to the
community hosting the PRSSA
2015 National Conference. This
initiative is a wonderful example
of PRSSA’s core principles: education, development, ethicality
and community. The Ron Clark
Academy was chosen as this year’s
partner because of its devotion to
these principles.
Located in Southeast Atlanta,
the Ron Clark Academy is a nonprofit middle school dedicated to
delivering the highest quality educational experience to socio-economically diverse students through
advanced rigor, engaging teaching
methods and a passionate climate
and culture. The Academy has
received both national and international recognition for their
work empowering Atlanta’s youth.
To participate, National
Conference attendees are encouraged to donate new or gently-used,
middle school books. Books of all
kinds will be accepted, but PRSSA
requests that elementary level or
graphic romance novels are not
donated. No donation is too big or
too small.
“The Ron Clark Academy is
honored to be a part of this partnership with PRSSA. This initiative will support our ongoing
efforts to emphasize literacy and
to inspire a love for literature with
our students. It is also important
to us to teach our students to give
back to their communities, and we
appreciate the members of PRSSA
for demonstrating this so beautifully,” said Kim Bearden, executive
director and co-founder of the
Ron Clark Academy.
By donating books to the school,
the Society will help to further the
Academy’s institutional vision and
will provide young students with
greater access to the benefits associated with a large collection of
literature.
“Our library contains many
books that were donated when our
school opened in 2007, but many
books have become worn, and we
also need updated titles that have
been released over the past few
years,” Bearden said.
Bearden and Ron Clark founded
the Ron Clark Academy in 2007
and have been wildly successful
SEE PURPOSE, PAGE 3
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5 Reasons to Attend a National Event PG.2
Exploring Fundraising Options PG.3
Top Ten Atlanta Attractions PG.4 & 5
Q & A with Scott Williamson PG.8
OPEN
FORUM
2
DIVERSITY AT WORK
How The Firm at Universidad de San
Martín de Porres embraces being an
international Chapter
4
The 2015 graduating class of the Ron Clark Academy celebrating
their accomplishments. Photo courtesy of The Ron Clark Academy.
Lessons Learned From Being an
Intern Fish in an Agency Pond
BY LAURA DARONATSY
PRSSA NATIONAL PRESIDENT
Meetings. Pitching reporters. Strategy. Media lists. Research. Pursuing your first
agency internship is thrilling.
But agency life is truly unique
from other public relations experiences. This summer, I had
the privilege of interning at
the New York City headquarters of Weber Shandwick, the
second-largest public relations
agency in the world.
Although I’ve had other internships, this was my first time
working at a public relations
agency. So naturally I was a bit
nervous to see if I measured up
as a small fish in the big agency
pond. In honor of the upcoming semester, I would like to
share with you four of my summer’s takeaways:
1. Your coworkers won’t likely
be strictly “PR people.”
I expected to be working
with all “classically-trained”
public relations professionals.
However, this was not the case
at Weber. As the public relations profession becomes more
appealing to a range of potential employees, I think we can
expect to see more outsiders
breaking into the industry. The
diversity of the interns alone
ranged from those studying international business to political
ATLANTA ATTRACTIONS
The top 10 Atlanta attractions you
can’t miss at the PRSSA 2015 National
Conference
8
FROM THE
PRESIDENT’S
DESK
science, marketing, sociology,
English and more. While there
are pros and cons to this, it’s
the reality I faced and quickly
learned to adjust to.
2. Thank-you cards are a must.
You never know when a
thank-you card is going to
come in handy. Did your coworker treat you to a coffee
date? Were you able to snatch
a few minutes chatting with
the CEO? Did your supervisor
provide you with an opportunity that went above and beyond
your expectations? Call me traditional, but I believe these situations — and countless others
— call for a handwritten thankyou note. I purchased a 50-pack
upon my arrival and have a few
blank cards in my purse at all
times. I highly recommend this,
as thank-you notes are a sincere
way to show your appreciation
for any occasion. Plus, these are
SEE LESSONS, PAGE 2
MEASUREMENT
Tips for a successful measurement plan
and how measurement paves the way
for success