Feeding to Learn, Learning to Feed

Public Relations students in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications are receiving real world experience  through hands-on coursework. 

Helping Hungry Hearts is a student-run public relations agency working to raise money and awareness for The Huntington Area Food Bank and hunger problems in the Tri-State area, said Kaylin Adkins, senior public relations major from Huntington and co-chairwoman of the media relations team for Helping Hungry Hearts.

When students entered the class in the fall, the only thing pre-determined for the class was that they would be working with the food bank, said Terry Hapney, assistant professor of public relations at Marshall University.  He said he wanted to leave the direction of the campaign entirely up to the students in the class. 

"I wanted them to get the feeling for doing something from the ground up," Hapney said.

 Creating and carrying out the agency is a two-semester process. The students created the agency and discussed plans during the fall semester in their public relations writing class, Hapney said.  They presented their ideas to the directors of The Huntington Area Food Bank at the end of the fall semester.

The students are now in a public relations campaign management class executing the plans they made during first semester, Hapney said.

There are 22 students in the class, including three graduate students, Hapney said.  The graduate students serve as co-directors of the agency.  The class is split up into four groups: creative, business, promotions and media relations.  Each group was formed based on the students' personal talents and passions.

"It's a chance for them to get hands-on public relations experience, and it's a chance for them to leave our program without just getting a grade for this but also doing something positive for the community," Hapney said.

"The class is great preparation for a job in the public relations field and teaches students a lot about their own work ethic, said Whitney Parsley, second year journalism graduate student from Scott Depot, W.Va. Parsley is co-director of the Helping Hungry Hearts campaign.

"I think that it definitely shows me what my strengths are and what weaknesses I have," Parsley said. "I definitely think that's a great thing to learn right now before I actually get a job because I can go into my new place of employment and know what my strengths are, and I can work on those problems that I do have."

Parsley said some of the biggest struggles within the class have been learning to work with all different types of personalities and working within their $1,000 budget.

"It's a little intimidating at first because you're not used to working with the people in the class," Adkins said. "You kind of have to get to know personalities and get to know how everybody else works before you can try to implement what you've learned."

The class has been a challenge, she said.

"It's really time consuming and stressful at times, but it's worth it," Adkins said. "You realize how rewarding it is and how beneficial it is to your career."

"It's definitely worth it," Parsley said. "It's not just a mock campaign that you would set up in a class or something.  You actually execute it, and you have that experience, and at the end of this semester we'll have a whole portfolio of work to show our potential employers."

Adkins said Helping Hungry Hearts is not only a great way to boost students' resumes but also their self-confidence.  She said it's great for establishing professional contacts within the area as well.

The agency hopes to raise $10,000 for the Huntington Area Food Bank, Parsley said. They raised more than $890 last semester with a penny drive at three local elementary schools.  The agency has several fundraisers planned for this semester, including a 5K run/walk, spaghetti dinner and another penny drive at elementary schools and on Marshall's campus.

Hapney said he feels confident that the students are going to succeed in their agency.

"We have a lot of people with really good leadership skills," Hapney said. "We have people who are rolling their sleeves up and getting in there and doing the work."

Kelsey Thomas can be thomas336@marshall.edu.