'Cinderella story'
Four UD students present at PRSSA national conference
2:04 p.m., Oct. 28, 2011--The University of Delaware chapter was one of only eight selected from more than 300 nationwide to present at the 2011 Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) national conference earlier this month, and four PRSSA-UD students shared their “Cinderella story” on how the chapter has experienced 400 percent growth in membership.
UD seniors Abby Stollar and Jessica Kamens and juniors Elynsey Price and Sarah Vlach, an Honors Program student, spoke to the 1,200-plus students in attendance about the successful tactics that have helped the UD chapter grow, such as creating a mentor-mentee program between local professionals and students, revamping their online presence and sponsoring field trips to public relations agencies and departments in Wilmington, Philadelphia and New York City.
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“We’ve done so much work within the last year and a half to help create a dynamic chapter,” said Stollar, the group’s president. “We were honored to share our successes with other students from across the nation. Hopefully, they’ll be able to replicate our successes in their chapters as well.”
Although UD established a PRSSA chapter in 1979, the campus chapter has experienced massive growth within the past year, going from approximately 10 to more than 60 regular meeting attendees. This is the first time students from the University chapter have ever had the opportunity to present a chapter development session at the national conference.
“This is a huge honor,” said Carolyn White-Bartoo, PRSSA-UD faculty adviser and an instructor in the Department of Communication. “I’m so proud of our team, and they did a great job representing UD on a national stage.”
The four-person team received scholarships from the Department of Communication, PRSA Delaware and Wilmington-based agency Aloysius, Butler, and Clark in order to attend the conference. Stollar was also selected to receive the national PRSA Public Affairs and Government Section grant, which provided complete funding for the 2011 conference.