Final Reflection

Covering Rowan’s award winning PRSSA program this semester has been both fun and informative for me.  I have gotten the chance to meet some great people as well as participate in some great events.  Rowan’s PRSSA offered me the opertunity not only to cover their organization this semester, but also become involved in a way I could have never originally planned.  This blog is going to take a summer hiatus, but my goal is to once again provide you with the news and happenings of PRSSA through new authors and contributors.Check out some of my favorite posts from the semester!

• RU Involved?
• A Big Success!
• Getting the Word Out
• PR Award Winner Bernard Talks PRaction
• The Larger Network You Build The Smaller The World Becomes

RU Involved?

One of the most important parts of the college experience is getting involved.  Here on the campus of Rowan University, there are over 100 different clubs and organizations to choose from and once you decide that you want to get involved, all you have to do is join!  Too often, students feel intimidated when it comes to joining a club.  They feel that since they do not know enough about a particular organization that they should not join.  For those students who are too apprehensive about getting involved, however, Chris Winkler’s Television Production 1 class is here to squash that fear with their talk show titled, “RU Involved, the PRSSA Edition.”

The talk show, which is a requirement for all TV 1 students, is the final production put on by students in this introductory production class.  “The talk show project in TV Production 1 is the culmination of all practiced production skills and understanding of production aesthetics learned during the semester,” said Winkler. “Students are challenged to create a half-hour public affairs style talk show about a subject that interests the college student audience.”

Colby Gallagher, a senior journalism and RTF major, was assigned the role of producer for this show, as she was the one who had the idea for RU Involved.  While having the show based completely on Rowan’s award winning PRSSA organization was not her original plan, Gallagher realized that PRSSA was an organization that interested many Rowan students and was certainly worthy of being spoken about for the show’s full half-hour.

“I chose PRSSA because it was a group that really embodies what college is about,” said Gallagher. “Everyone is trying to find their own home away from home at school and the PRSSA accepts everybody and really gives its members a chance to get involved and make friends without any kind of initial qualifications.”

Being the final project of the semester, the pre-production process for the show is the longest, as well as the most important.  Gallagher described the process saying, “You think, okay, I have the light settings, the camera angles, the guests, but you don’t fully realize that everything to the tinniest detail has to be decided in advance.”

The reason for so much emphasis on detail is the talk show is shot live to tape. This means there is no editing and the product you shoot is the product which you hand in, or as Winkler put it, “there is no undo button in live production.”  Due to how detailed and demanding such a project is, Gallagher had a team of students working with her, all of whom supported her idea of a show.

Gallagher’s director, Krysten Sobel, a Junior RTF student, was fully behind her producer’s vision.  “I was sold right away,” Sobel said. “I knew PRSSA would have a lot of great things to say that would be both interesting and motivational.”

Once the production details were put into place, Gallagher’s biggest task was to find guests within the PRSSA organization to be a part of the show.  She was able to get Rowan PRSSA President Elect Darrah Foster as well as the newly elected VP of Special Events Collette Bleistine.

Gallagher put a lot of thought into choosing these two and had very high praise for them both.  “My guests were interesting because I had these two girls who came in and within one semester each claimed a spot on the executive board of PRSSA.  I, as many other students do, thought working your way up took a lot more time, but both Colette and Darrah worked extremely hard to be able to get where they are today and I admire them for that,” said Gallagher.

Once the day finally came to tape the live show, Gallagher and her team were more then ready to go.  Foster was tremendously excited to talk about her organization and was happy to have the platform for which to do so.  Foster explained, “The show enabled me to become a little more comfortable in front of the camera and made me feel confident to know that I was promoting such a great part of the College of Communications.”

When the show finally concluded, Gallagher and the rest of the participants were very happy with the production that they had put on.  According to Gallagher, the best part of the show was the flow of the interviews.  “Both of my guests were a little nervous about their answers and I was nervous about running out of questions, but the interviews went smoothly and felt so natural.”

If you’re interested in watching the show, it will be airing on RTN Channel 5 some time in the coming week, see the program schedule at rtnch5.tv.

Invisible Children

Rowan’s PRSSA along with the Office of Multicultural Affairs hosted The Invisible Children Roadies for a screening of their new film, “Tony,” a documentary about a child in Uganda.  Check out some pictures from the night !

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Graduation Dinner

Rowan’s PRSSA held its 34th Annual Graduation Dinner at Colleen’s Caterers at the Savoy on Sunday April 17th.  Students and faculty were recognized for their achievements over the corse of this year as a plethora of awards were handed out.

Public Relations Superior Student Award: Jeff Miele

PRSSA Outstanding Senior Award: Rebecca Cicione

Faculty Advisor Commendations: Alyssa Bott, Amanda DeCicco

Faculty Advisor Citation: Erica Hartshorne, Sarah Penn

Linda Quattrone Pollock PRaction Award for Excellence: Brittany Bernard

Anne Sceia Klein Professional Advisor Award for Outstanding Professionalism: Cheryl Resnick, Dana Sclafani

Outstanding PRaction Executive Award: Tom Cristino, Isaac Katz

Outstanding Junior Award: Darah Foster

Gold Medallions Anthony J. Fulginiti Award for Excellence in PR: Brittany Bernard

Litwin Family Medallion for Excellence in Strategic PR Writing: Kathleen Malloy

Anne Sceia Klein Professional Advisor Medallion for Outstanding Professionalism: Kim Ciesla

Donald Bagin Graduate PR Award: Brianne Rabouin

PRaction: Lisa Campos, Isaac Katz, Salita DeMary

PRomo: Alexis Sopko, Sarah Penn

Key Status: Tom Cristino, Liz Powers, Kristen Krywokulski

President’s Citation: Dana Scalfani, Cheryl Resnick

Executive Board Citation: Alyssa Bott, Amanda DeCicco, Alexandra Bednarek

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Cookies for a Cause

Today PRSSA supported their fellow member, Colette Bleistine, and hosted a Cookies for a Cure Bake Sale. Bleistine was born with Cystic Fibrosis and for the past eleven years has walked in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundations Great Strides Walk. This years walk will take place on April 30th  at Washington Lake Park in Washington Township, N.J.

A Big Success!

This year’s Organ Donor Day was Rowan PRSSA’s 19th annual event.  The event was started in honor of PRSSA advisor, Anthony J. Fulginiti, who received a kidney transplant 19 years ago.  The festivities included a singer, Gabrielle Howarth, who is from South Jersey, a band called Catch the Mouse, the Rowan 3D Dance Team and a step team. The day also included a speaker from The Gift of Life, Gail Clayg who spoke about her son and his decision to be an organ donor, and how it saved 6 lives.  Students were able to sign in at the Gift of Life table, where they had an IPad to sign people up to become an organ donor.

Check out the video from the event which includes an interview with Brooke Schrider the chair person for the event!

Today is the Day!

 

 

Getting the Word Out

Cheryl Resnick, Co-Account Manager in charge of Logistics and Isaac Katz, Co-Account Manager in charge for Promotions for PRSSA’s Organ Donor Day sit down with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Nicole Peraino on RTN’s “On The Couch.”  Organ Donor Day is coming up this Tuesday, April 12th, starting at 9am on the Rowan University Student Center Patio.

Wendy’s Fundraiser Tomorrow!

Come on out to the Wendy’s of Glassboro this Tuesday night from 5pm to 8pm to show your support for Rowan’s PRSSA!  For every purchase made during this three hour block PRSSA will receive 20% of the proceeds which will go towards future special events, supplies, trips and more.  Also don’t forget to say, “I’m here for Rowan University- PRSSA,” when you make your order.

For more information check out the Facebook event page!

PR Award Winner Bernard Talks PRaction

Brittany Bernard, a 22-year-old Senior from Marlton, New Jersey, is the president of Rowan’s PRaction organization. Majoring in both PR and Psychology, Bernard has gotten the most out of her PRSSA and PRaction career since coming to Rowan and has received the Anthony J. Fulginiti Medallion for Excellence in Public Relations for 2011.  Recently Bernard sat down and discussed what she has gotten out of PRaction, and why she thinks you should join as well.