by Katy Knapp
Daily Lobo
Getting a good grade in John Benavidez's class is not so easy.
Benavidez, an instructor in the Anderson Schools of Management, gave his promotions management class a hefty assignment - create a marketing plan for the U.S. State Department's summer internship program.
The project will be presented at the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium on Nov. 21 and to the State Department on Nov. 30.
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EdVenture Partners' marketing program gave the class $2,500 to develop and implement a marketing plan for the State Department.
Benavidez said he was excited when they approached him with a marketing project for his students.
"I thought that was really cool," he said. "But it turned out to be a lot of work."
The 26 students in the class created a working advertising agency they call Infinite Visions, Inc. They split themselves up into five teams: advertising, research and development, strategy and implementation, public relations and budget.
Working closely together with so many people could create problems, but the students all agreed there was no drama.
Gabe Gallegos of the advertising team said that could be because of how much each team relied on each other.
"If I had a lot to do, I could easily call someone in my group and they wouldn't hesitate to do it," Gallegos said.
Students laughed when asked how much time in a week they dedicated to the project.
"My group met four times a week, totaling about 12 hours," said Sheena Gamache, of the research group.
Andrea Watral, who worked on public relations, said it could get tough with her other commitments.
"It's like taking on second jobs," she said, noting everyone in the class is a full-time student.
On top of this project, students are expected to keep up with regular class material, Benavidez said, and do well on three exams throughout the semester. He said some students dropped the course the first day because of the course requirements.
"We lost a few people up front," he said. "It was OK because the people who stuck on really wanted to."
Students placed posters in advisement centers around campus and set up booths outside Zimmerman three times during the semester to promote the program.
Gallegos said the slogan of the campaign was "Opening Doors," to emphasize the traveling opportunities students can have by being placed in a U.S. Embassy abroad.
The State Department hired the class to not only increase the number of applicants, but to also increase diversity in its internship program.
The State Department wants more applicants who are upperclassmen minorities with non-traditional majors.
"That includes students majoring in linguistics, social sciences, liberal arts - really there is a position for every major in the program," she said.
All teams, except finance, consisted of five members.
Corey Vanlandingham is the lone person in charge of keeping track of and divvying out the $2,500.
He said the class spent about $1,500, most of which went toward giveaways at information booths, like stress balls, he said. The class also created program fliers, which cost a lot of money for design and paper.
The rest they have to send back, Vanlandingham said.
Benavidez said he predicts everyone in the course will receive a good grade at the end of the semester.
"This is the best group of students I ever had," he said. "The fact it was a real project made all the difference in getting them excited."
Gamache agreed.
"We all took a lot of pride in what we were doing," she said. "It's different working with a real client. We didn't want to put out a poor product."
