Category: Business

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Community Spotlight: December Graduate

When it comes to thinking about who makes up the community of Grove City College, often the first thought is students and professors. However, there are many more components – past and present – that play a vital role in the community here. I talked with Josh McFall, a December 2017 graduate. He studied accounting and participated in many camppus activities. Here is the interview that transpired:

Can you tell me a little about your academic journey?

I started my pursuit for higher education at Kent State University Trumbull Campus in the fall of 2013 as an undecided business major, after a semester I declared my major as Business Management before changing my major to accounting.

I stayed at Kent for two years before transferring to Grove City College. Three of my siblings had attended Grove City and I wasn’t convinced that it was the place for me. One of the turning points in my decision was at my sister Lizzy’s wedding at Harbison Chapel in the fall of 2014. I got to walk around the campus with my sister’s husband Joe, who also graduated from there. During this time, I got to talk with him about my preconceived notions and what I wanted from the remainder of my college career. Ultimately, that conversation and overall experience was the first event that led to my decision to attend Grove City College and I would end up applying about eight months later.

What has been the most difficult thing about graduating mid academic year?

Leaving my fiancée, sister, and friends in a rather anti-climactic way. I am a sentimental person, so I like having solid beginnings and endings as they help me compartmentalize my feelings and emotions. Graduating and leaving campus halfway through the academic school year is rather akin to walking out of a movie theater 10 minutes before the end of a movie while your friends all stay and watch it. You miss the last semester excitement and relief you share with other seniors who are about to graduate and walk to receive their diploma in May. I felt that excitement and relief mostly alone, and there was no fanfare or send off when I left campus. The vibe was just that of another winter break, and everyone else would see each other in a month.

Mind you, this is no fault of Grove City’s. There is nothing they could do to change the way things are. I was privileged to attend a dinner for the few seniors graduating in December at President and Mrs. McNulty’s house and it was a lovely time. Also, I will be back in May to walk, but if I’m being honest that is more for my parents than myself. If I had my way, I would choose not to walk simply because I have closed that chapter of my life and I am in a new one now (like I said, solid beginnings and endings).

What do you miss the most about Grove City?

What I miss may not be something unique to only Grove City, like chapel requirements, or jokes about rings by spring, but are unique to my personal experience and how it shaped my life. I miss the shenanigans and community of my transfer hall in Hicks, while living in the room with the window right above the trash cans everyone walks by to go to dinner. And I miss bonding with the guys of Pan Sophic while being their RA, and being given the opportunity to help foster community on my hall. And I miss having to amend my plan to get engaged multiple times due to inclement weather, another fraternity’s rush event, and a marching band competition this past October (I did finally pop the question and she said yes!). This is a tiny sliver of all that I value from my time and are they exclusively things that could have happened at Grove City? No, they could have happened at any college, but they didn’t, they happened at Grove City. And for that reason, I miss and reminisce about my time there. Those buildings and grounds will always be hallowed to me, not because they had uniqueness or specialness that was intrinsic to them (though they certainly do and that does play into it), but because that is the place where I built part of who I am today. So what I miss most is basically everything, the whole chapter beginning to end. I can’t think of one thing without being reminded of five other things.

What have you done post-graduation?

I work at Schneider Downs & Co in Pittsburgh which is a public accounting firm, and I am studying for the CPA exam.

How would you describe GCC’s community in your own words?

When people look at Grove City College, diversity is not necessarily the first thing that pops into their head’s, but to assume that the community here is totally homogeneous is very far from reality, I try to avoid making blanket statements for this reason. Like any other place, the overall community is like a patchwork quilt, and each patch in the quilt is itself another patchwork quilt, all the way down to the individual level. It’s true but ironic because I did end up just making a “blanket” statement… quilt… get it?

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The Future of the Music Business Program

Four years ago, I came to Grove City College as a music business major and after one semester, I switched to the Department of Entrepreneurship. For me, it was a great switch. I have really thrived in the entrepreneurship program here. However, my original reason for switching was not because I had dreams of starting my own business one day, it was because the music business program was lacking. I would learn a lot of great things about music and learn a good bit about business but there did not seem to be any classes to help me learn about the music industry itself. As it turns out, I was not the only one who noticed this issue. But the difference between me and Cedric Lewis is that he actually planned on doing something about it.
 
Professor Lewis is an entertainment attorney from Florida who taught music business at Full Sail University. He came to Grove City five years ago and has been teaching at the College ever since. He came to teach a business law class and in his second year here, he discovered that we had a music business major. He did some research and discovered it was not very industry specific. Once word got around that he was an entertainment attorney, students began to think he was here to revamp the program. That expectation began to become a reality and that year, he gave the College a proposal to revamp the whole program but it was too extensive. So he started small with an intro to the business of music class and still has a plan to rebuild the program to better fit his original plan. He added a second class, music marketing, last year for juniors and seniors. Because it is Grove City, he gets to focus on the music industry as well as the Christian music industry. He has a desire to build true Christians up to go into a tough and sometimes dark industry; working with labels in marketing, accounting, administration and more.
 
Even though professor Lewis has been largely successful in his goals with the program thus far, he has faced a few setbacks. Getting the word out for his new classes has been difficult. Grove City College has a huge network of alumni that are in the industry. Getting in touch with those alumni has helped but the current students need to learn more about it. As the program gains traction and more students begin taking these classes, this problem should wane.
 
Professor Lewis still wants to add a class to teach music software like Protools and Logic, a critical listening class to help students develop an ear for different types and styles of music, and a class to learn other industry related topics such as event planning or video production. When asked about expanding the program, he responded by saying, “the wonderful thing about Grovers is that you’re resilient and hard workers so I can expand the program faster than expected.” He wants music business majors to graduate being proud of their degree and has high hopes for the future of the music business program.
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Advertising Grove City: A Class Project

In Dr. Powell’s advertising class, students were given the unique opportunity to research the College and create their own unique marketing strategies towards prospective students. Their task: to increase the number of applications submitted to Grove City by using an integrated marketing strategy that they themselves create. There were so many unique ideas presented!

Assigned throughout the majority of the semester, each class (there were two separate ones) was divided into teams of five persons, each given this same task. Dr. Powell advised these teams to begin talking to the admissions office, the marketing research class, and students on campus to advise them on particular marketing ideas and how they would resonate with their target audiences.

As data collection continued, the creative process intensified. Teams were given the task to create a sample print advertisement, a radio advertisement script, as well as a sales promotion give away, in addition to creating substantial PR. This task seemed stark, but all teams rose to the occasion and presented to Dr. Powell and students with creative, intuitive ideas to reach the demographic.

Ideas ranged anywhere from Virtual Reality Headsets to a Twitter promotion offering free tuition for a certain amount of likes. In one class, a particular team designed the theme “Rooted Deep,” and based their campaign around this idea. Their print ad reflected that idea with a tree showing immense roots, and their radio ad emulated that idea. Lastly, teams came up with a promotional video to be shown on the website that captures the essence of their big idea.

Each team presented thrice over the course of the semester, with each successive presentation becoming more and more improved with peer evaluation and teacher advising. Finally, the teams presented their IMC plans in the form of a eight- to 10-page report that laid out their vision for their advertising campaign, and subsequent examples.

Ideally, some of these ideas could get passed along to the admissions office and be implemented into the marketing and presentation of Grove City College. Regardless, and speaking as a student in this particular class, the concepts learned and applied in this project will be invaluable further down the road after graduation. The focus on creativity within a big idea is a crucial part of the marketing and business world, and many students as a result of this project will be impacted and better prepared for their future careers.

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On-Campus Jobs: Business Manager of “The Collegian”

In order to have a successful collegiate newspaper, there are countless individuals working behind the scenes to create content, manage the distribution, etc.

I had the chance to talk to one of the members of the Collegian’s staff who holds in a unique position within this campus organization. Jesse Peterson is a (now) December graduate who majored in communications during his time here. He held the role of “Business Manager” within this organization.

What kinds of tasks did this position entail for you?

“I was involved in the acquisition of advertisements for the Collegian and managed some of the financial duties that the Collegian dealt with. In addition, I was the person responsible for getting the weekly paper and then distributing it throughout the various campus locations.”

Can you talk more about the distribution process? I heard it was a more unique experience!

“Yes, it’s funny you should ask that! When we get the newspaper, it is printed up in Meadville, towards Allegheny College. Every Friday morning I get up and leave campus around 4 a.m. to drive up to Allegheny and collect the printed papers, put them in my car, and come back to campus. I am responsible for making sure that the newspapers are on the stands by the time most buildings open (so around 7:30 a.m. – ish). It’s sometimes a tiring thing to drive an hour there and back with the newspapers, but I’ve gained a lot of good experience from it.”

How has this job contributed to your experience at Grove City?

“I would say that I learned quite a bit of discipline having to get up so early on a Friday morning. The advertising aspect of the position engaged me in business to business conversations, and that skill is valuable when it comes to real world experiences. At Grove City, I’ve connected with other members of the writing staff, as well as numerous professors and individuals who influence the writings and creation process. Lastly, I’ve been fortunate to have some of my friends ride along with me when I get the paper, so there have been great relationships formed and improved through having this position. I’m very grateful for the opportunity, and know that while it is a bit of work, the lessons learned and experience are worth it!”

A big thanks to Jesse Peterson for speaking to me about his position, and a shout out to the entire Collegian staff who works tirelessly to get the paper out every week! Thank you for your hard work!

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A Crash Course in Marketing

When I was an incoming freshman, the only majors that I was interested in were English and Music. Why? Because they were the only two subjects that I had enjoyed in high school that were offered as degree programs. Of course, there were majors like Business and Marketing, Sociology, Communication, and Entrepreneurship, but I was hesitant to declare any of them since I had no experience in any such classes in high school. As a matter of fact, after working in retail, I thought that marketing and sales were synonymous with customer service. In order to clear up these misconceptions and explore where I wanted to go, I signed up for BUSA 204: Principles of Marketing with Professor Laura Havrilla.

Principles of Marketing is the introductory marketing class here at Grove City. It gives a very broad but invaluable overview of what marketing is and what different roles are played in the marketing department of a company. As it turns out, marketing is a term that encompasses everything relating to building and keeping strong customer relationships within a business, so I wasn’t wrong that it can include sales and customer service, but it also includes much, much more. As a matter of fact, marketing involves research, customer insight, ongoing strategy, supply chains, product development, package design, strategic visual placement, pricing and finances, advertising, promotional tools, business management, customer relationships, business relations, public relations, branding, digital marketing, graphic and website design, user experience, online content creation, social media, and more.

It’s easy to say that with such a long list of possibilities within the field of marketing, there must be something for everyone, and I believe that there is. After declaring a business writing concentration myself, I’ve gone on to enroll in courses such as Digital Marketing, Interactive Design and User Experience, Internet Content Marketing, and Public Relations. Digital Marketing has, for the most part, reinforced marketing concepts and strategies that I learned in the introductory class with a special emphasis on using the Internet as your primary form of communication. More narrowly in this online marketing discipline is Interactive Design and User Experience, which is listed as a design course, but it is a semester-long application of branding and design and the role they play with website marketing.

Marketing also very heavily utilizes another one of my favorite academic disciplines: writing. Internet Content Marketing focused on the up-and-coming practice of marketing using online content (surprising, I know). In addition to gaining invaluable skills with one of the greatest website-building tools of all time, WordPress, we were introduced to content marketing best practices, what it means to be an industry thought leader, and why every business must operate as a publisher. Because of content marketing, writing and marketing are more entwined than ever; however, content creation doesn’t end with writing. It is just the beginning of the creative side of marketing: photography, website design, video, user experience, blogging, and customer relations are all a part of it.

Last year, when I took a class called Writing for the Media (which I highly recommend for anyone wanting to get a taste of any kind of media-related career), my professor introduced public relations as a job that incorporates all other writing, marketing, and design skills that we had learned in the class, but would pay way more. Needless to say, public relations immediately had my attention. Fortunately, Public Relations is actually a required class for my major, and I have had the pleasure of taking it with one of my favorite professors, Dr. Jennifer Mobley. Similarly to general marketing, public relations had been another subject that I had heard about again and again, but hadn’t been introduced to. It turns out that PR operates almost identically to marketing, but instead of trying to sell a particular product or service, the PR team works to create and maintain a positive image of the entire company to the public eye, and that’s exactly what our PR class at Grove City College does. Groups of about five students each have teamed up with different organizations to work with them on branding, social media, design, research, event planning, writing, and community outreach. With so many options under the umbrella of marketing, there’s something for everyone, and I would encourage incoming students to try out some of our business and marketing classes if you’re unsure of what career path you want to pursue.

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Major (Life) Changes – My Switch From Communication Studies to Entrepreneurship

When it comes to your college career – maybe you’ve got it all figured out, maybe not. I know I certainly didn’t upon entering college, and I’ve learned that’s perfectly okay! The college experience is uniquely different for everyone – no two experiences will be identical. I’ve learned so much throughout the change that I’ve endured, and it has allowed me to reflect on the past four years, to see how I’ve grown not only as a student, but as an individual. Many people come into college assuming that their academics will be their primary learning source. However, I believe that a bulk of my learning has been done outside of the college classroom.Image result for entrepreneurship

As a senior in high school, everyone asked me what I wanted to do. As any indecisive high school student, I answered “I don’t know,” and that was true up until the tail end of my freshman year of college.

I came in to Grove City College as a Communication Studies major, and it wasn’t until I took a Principles of Marketing course that I would recognize where my real calling is – business. As I sat in that course, I was deeply intrigued by the many facets of business that we discussed in that class. I loved the fast paced and ever-changing environment that the business world had to offer. It was that single class that made me ask myself the question – “what do I really want to do with my life.” It was because of this class that I decided to officially change my major to Entrepreneurship.

If you would have asked me what Entrepreneurship was my senior year of high school, I would have told you I had no idea. And to be quite honest, I still to this day sometimes struggle in spelling the word. My newfound major of Entrepreneurship has allowed me to experience a new side of life and a new side of me. I have found creative and innovative freedom through this major, as well as new skills to accompany those. I’m glad that I took the leap of faith in changing my major, because it has changed me for the better.

Now, I just made that sound like a piece of cake because I really enjoy my new major. However, sometimes it’s really hard to get where you want to be, especially if the major transition doesn’t work. Luckily, since I was switching disciplines within the school of arts and letters, I had very little issue in making the switch. I was a few credits behind, but I was able to make that up through some a summer class, an intersession, and some overtime credits.

If there’s one thing I can leave you with, it’s this – don’t think that if you come in as one major, you can’t graduate as another. As of now, I am on track to graduate with a major in Entrepreneurship with a minor in Communication Studies. And just think – I only started out as Communications! Remember, there’s no glass ceiling on what you can do when your mind’s put to it and your heart’s in it. Follow God’s call for your life – He won’t lead you astray. A lot of the time that leap of faith – whether it be changing your major, auditioning for the musical, or trying out for a sport – takes obedience on our part to get God’s blessing in our lives.

I encourage you – don’t settle for something you don’t want. Go after what GOD wants for your life!

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Rise of the Makers: The Story of a New Competition on Campus

hoyt hallWhat is the most unique, eye-catching, ridiculous object you can come up with? This out-of-the-box question is what encompasses the Make Movement. The movement strives to clash together crazy entrepreneurs with risk-taking engineers; and the result is flame-throwing musical instruments. It was the goal of GCC senior engineers Logan Mackenzie and Sam Cooper to coax the engineers out of the shade of Hoyt Hall and the entrepreneurs off their lofty third floor in HAL – bringing them together in holy innovation, much like the Make Movement. Sam and Logan noticed that campus is rather segregated in regards to major studies. The engineers stick to their structured equations and the entrepreneurs continue to come up with ideas with no ability to develop into reality because they simply cannot build it. Logan and Sam sat down with Entrepreneurship professor Yvonne English to address this concern. In this meeting, the Maker’s Design Competition was born.

The whole concept of the competition was to encourage entrepreneurs and engineers to come together and make some sort of prototype that was exceptional in either design or functionality… or both. With the help of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Logan and Sam were able to offer a small allowance to each team to develop their idea over a period of three to four months. After Professor English had motivated Sam and Logan to write down the basics of the competition on paper it was time to find their team members. Sam sent out a mass email to several students that Professor English recommended would be a great asset to the team. Not soon after that, a team of two had grown to a team of four engineers, four entrepreneurs, and one international businessman. In the eyes of the entrepreneur, this competition was a startup, and it had to be treated, loved, and worked on as so.

Once the Maker’IMG_3606s Design Competition (MDC) team has established itself as a small family, the students began their first order of business by organizing a mixer right after Thanksgiving break to set the stage for mingling. To promote this event, Sam and Lindy (me) delegated marketing tasks to the rest of the team. Posters were hung a week before the mixer and the day before little dum-dum lollipops with advertisements on the sticks were spread all throughout the academic buildings. Fun Fact: The MDC hand-attached the advertisement tags to the lollipop sticks. In total, they prepped over 900 dum-dums. To pass the time while working, the team watched the movie, “The Grinch”.  With cookies, games, and example projects to draw in the wandering engineer/entrepreneur, over 50 individuals showed up on the night of the mixer. Of course, the night was not complete without a family MDC photo in front of the Christmas tree.

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Once engineers and entrepreneurs happily mingled, teams began to form. Within a few weeks idea submissions were stacked alongside two large pizza boxes on a table in the STU – the MDC team sitting around the table ready to read over all the applications. After about an hour, the final 10 teams were confirmed to go onto the semi-finals after Christmas break. These 10 teams were also allotted a $50 allowance to use for any materials they may need to build their prototype. Upon returning to campus, the teams had another two weeks before presenting their progress in front of a panel of six professor judges (two entrepreneurship, one marketing, one economics, two engineering). The judges then narrowed the competition down to four teams to go on to the final round.

Two weeks later these four teams stood before another panel of judges and an audience to re-present their idea.

Graphrite

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A small, plastic piece used to sketch engineering designs more accurately.

Lees Guitars

A hand-made guitar made of wood.

Vulcans Forge

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A wheelchair lift with a crank to raise/life a ramp so users did not have to bend over and lift the chair.

Quick Check

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An app for smartphones that allows users to pay for their check without going through a server or table kiosk.

With 10 minutes to wow the room and a $400 grand prize on the line, the teams were cut-throat and ready for battle at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25. In a fantastic turn of events, the teams were so great the judges ultimately decided to give three prizes of $400, $300, & $200 for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place (respectively). First place went to Graphrite for their amazing design and unique product. Second place went to Lees Guitars for his presentation style and beautiful guitar, and lastly, third place went to Vulcans Forge for the wheelchair lift that was valuable to any family with a loved one in a wheel chair.

It has been a pleasure working with the MDC team and the entrepreneurship department to put this competition together. There is definitely room for improvement for next year’s competition, but the fact that the idea started in a professor’s office in September of 2016 and ended in February in Sticht Auditorium is worthy of applause.

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Undecided? It’s Okay

As a high school senior, I felt a lot of pressure to know exactly what I wanted to do with my life – it seemed like I needed to know where I wanted to go to college, my intended major, and what I would do after graduation. The only problem was that I could not figure out any of these impending questions. I had no clue where I wanted to go or my desired major. The whole process was so stressful and I wanted to give up. However, I was able to figure it out, and Grove City made it easy for me to discover my route. Below is my journey in how I discovered the right major for myself:

gcc shieldStarting out: Undecided

Once I was accepted into Grove City College, the next decision I had to choose was my major. I honestly had no clue. After getting advice from my parents and mentors that I trusted, I ended up starting my freshman year as Undecided. I appreciated that I did not feel judged but accepted for not knowing exactly what I wanted to pursue  in the future. They gave me an adviser, and came alongside me in the decision making process. One day, the chair of the liberal arts department even gave the undecided students a pep talk and some practical advice on choosing the right major.

Major 1: International Business

Once I was in some exploratory classes for a few weeks, I had a better idea of what I liked. I wanted to make a choice that would help me discover my true calling for the next four years. Luckily, it is not difficult to change your major, add a minor, or even add/drop a class. The goal of the College is to help students discover their calling, while making the process as easy as possible. So I decided to try International Business. I liked the opportunities and I interests gravitate towards international work.

The Right Major: Entrepreneurship

Undecided Major Studied Abroad
I even had the opportunity to study abroad in the Spring of my sophomore year!

Although I really enjoyed some of the classes I took in the Business Department, it did not feel right for me. Again, after some soul searching, prayer, and advice seeking I landed in the Entrepreneurship Department. I decided this in the summer right before sophomore year began. I was able to contact my new adviser and even talk with him over the phone before returning to school. He helped me handle all of the paperwork, and made the transition easy. The best news – I love my major!! It is a great fit for me.

The best common quality among the professors at Grove City is that they all want you to succeed. I am able to go visit with professors, ask them questions about a class, and leave feeling encouraged and cared about. Professors here look to make an investment in each student so they leave feeling prepared and equipped to do the work they have been called to do. So do not worry about coming to Grove City and having all those questions unanswered. It is easy to figure it out here!

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Career Spotlight: Anna Grassel Lands Position With Federated

Anna Grassel is a senior Marketing Management major at Grove City College. Recently, Anna landed a highly-sought after position working in sales at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh, PA.

Federated is a massive financial services company with its headquarters located in Pittsburgh. The company was founded in 1957, and manages about $364.1 billion of customer assets. Grassel is this financial powerhouse’s latest hire.

I had the privilege of sitting down with Grassel to talk with her about the process of landing the job, and the role the GCC Career Services Office played in the process.

The interview is below:

(Nathan) When were you first interested in working in Sales, and how did you know this was the career path you wanted to pursue?

(Anna) Two words: Professor Kocur. I took his upper level business sales class. Initially I thought it would be an “easy A.” However, I was naive into all that goes into being a successful sales associate. His passion for sales was contagious. His passion for sales couples with his experience working for GlaskoSmithKline translated into a valuable sales class.

I knew sales was for me because I love working with people! The psychology behind sales is fascinating. Beyond that, I work well against a set of goals – and that is a crucial aspect of sales. The results in sales are tangible. That is very motivating for me.

How, or where did you hear about Federated?

Federated Investors has an amazing reputation in Pittsburgh. Being a Pittsburgh native, I was familiar with them because of their involvement in the community. I have always been intrigued by the financial industry and Federated Investor’s reputation precedes itself. So they were at the top of my list when looking at companies in Pittsburgh.

Did you intern with them?  Did you think that hurt/helped your chances of getting in, or just motivated you more?

This is a funny story. I applied for a marketing internship with them my junior year. Unfortunately, I got turned down for the position. It was very motivating. From that point forward, I was determined to get more experience in the financial industry and refine my skill set to be a stellar applicant for them in the future. At the end of the day it was a blessing in disguise because I got connected with the right department within Federated.

What were the initial steps you took to break into to the Federated team?

Before I began I direct dialogue with the company personnel, I utilized Grove City College’s alumni network to connect with alums who worked in the company. Everyone I was in contact with was very encouraging and had nothing but positive things to say about Federated. This really confirmed my interest.

Next, they were coming to the Career Fair. I went and bought a rocking black suit, personalized my resume – stating a firm interest in the company, and I researched the company and opening they had listed on there website. They were the first and only company I spoke with at the Career Fair. I went in with a reasonable next step in mind. By that I mean, I asked her about open positions and expressed an interest in job shadowing. She connected me with the director of sales at Federated. And Grove City, being the amazing college it is, actually was hosting Federated for an informational meeting in a few weeks. I made sure I went to that, went there early to get face-to-face time with the Sales representatives present. After that I went to Pittsburgh the following week to job shadow. After talking to the people and seeing the work environment  I fell in love with the company. However, at that time they were not hiring, but they were encouraging about keeping the dialogue open. A few months later they contacted me for an interview for an internal sales position. The rest is history!

How did the CSO office or connections from Grove City assist you in creating a relationship with the Federated team?

The Career Service Office at Grove City College rocks my socks off! Mrs. Vago, Career Service Counselor, was a professional and emotional support during this entire process. She helped me prepare an elevator pitch and was always willing to review my resume. The most important career advice she gave me was always having a reasonable next step in mind. By that she meant going to the Career Fair and have in mind job shadowing. I think this was important because it is hard to have realistic expectations. I would not have my job if it were not for her!

It seems like you really fostered a frequent flow of communication with the Federated team during this process.  Practically, (maybe give an example of how you kept up communication) what did that look like?

I am surprised they did not file a restraining order against me 🙂 There definitely is a fine line between being pushy vs. persistent. Every time I could reaffirm my interest and give tangible examples of how I could provide value to the company was essential. In my communication my goal was to be personable. Every person I came in touch with I followed up with an email thank you note, as well as a handwritten thank you note. I was intentional to say what they had taught me and why I thought I would be a good fit.   

When do you think was the real breakthrough moment that got your “foot in the door”?

Going down and job shadowing definitely put me on the map. It showed I was serious about the company. Really, it allowed me to look at the people who worked there. After meeting my potential future colleagues I could see how they were driven (and fashionable) people. They were happy and the security guards were friendly. It was evident that people had an enjoyable working environment and took ownership of their work.

Contrasting this to other places I interviewed at was night and day. Federated has a corporate environment, but is intentionally personable. It really is the best of both worlds.

When did the interview process start for you?

I interviewed on Christmas break in December.  

Any advice for someone hoping to land a job like yours?

Take Professor Kocur’s sales class and start the job hunt fall semester of your senior year! Many companies hire early. Also, build a strong relationship with the Career Service Office at Grove City.

To follow Anna on LinkedIn, find her profile here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annagrassel

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Emmett’s Orchard Advertising Campaign

During the Fall semester of 2015, a Grove City College student advertising group headed up an integrated marketing communications plan worth being highlighted for its quality of work.

Dr. Scott Powell, professor of business at Grove City, strives to bring out the absolute best in his students by challenging them to semester-long projects that involve hands-on experience. One of Dr. Powell’s most notable courses is his Advertising class. The project in this class requires students to form groups and select an organization within the local area for which to develop an integrated marketing communications plan.

Group members Evan Broome, Nathan Chanski, Allison Blain, Stephen Betteridge and Sarah Williamson in the fall 2015 section of Powell’s Advertising course chose to take on the local Emmett’s Orchard as their organization of choice. Over the semester, these group members worked together in tandem with the Emmett’s Orchard owners from the research phase to the presentation of the deliverables.

Below is shown the work these Advertising students produced throughout the semester in their best attempt to promote the local orchard.

Campaign Objectives:

To raise awareness for our target market—that being, college students and young families within the Grove City area.

Brand Personality Goal:

Emmett’s Orchard is an outdoor getaway that celebrates fall, offers students a home away from home and promises the simple characteristic of authenticity.

The New Logo

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Promotional Photography

 

The New Website

http://emmettsorchard.weebly.com/

 

Print Ad 1

Print Ad 2

print ad

Video Ad

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk2Z-VNdvXo]