Students “energized” by public relations class

Wright State students working with Energize Clinton County: Left to right : Beth Cupp. Christina Dyer, Cara Briggs, Megan Roose, Zeb Crawford, and Josh Martin

Two years ago, Josh Martin’s mother lost her job working for DHL in Wilmington.

She had worked for more than 20 years, but suddenly had nothing to show for it.

“She’s had a tough time starting over,” said Martin, a senior in Wright State University’s communications program. “She went back to school and does home health care now in Clinton County. It’s not as much money as DHL, but it’s something.”

Something, Martin says, really is better than nothing, because so few who were laid off have found work without leaving the area.

But as the jobs and population dropped, one group was on the rise: Energize Clinton County.

Now a few years old, the nonprofit is staffed in part by a class of Wright State public relations students getting the kind of experience they could never get in a classroom.

“You can tell it’s hit home with the other students. Many of them are from small towns in Ohio like Wilmington, and they see how it can happen anywhere so they really want to get involved,” said Martin.

Over Winter Quarter, the class of about 20 students logged a lot of hours doing public relations research for Energize Clinton County (ECC).

“ECC uses our class as a PR firm. They needed to conduct research to find out what people thought of their organization. When they started, it was a campaign to promote green energy efficiency to help the area become a green enterprise zone in Clinton County,” said Nick Wiget, who teaches the public relations class.

They conducted surveys all over Wilmington to learn more about how ECC is viewed in the community. They did the same for the group’s website and plan on using both sets of data when they hit the streets again in the Spring Quarter to promote ECC’s Meter Reader program.

ECC began as a energy efficiency campaign, but in 2008 made a tectonic shift toward economic recovery when DHL eliminated 8,000 jobs from a 12,000-person town.

“We’re trying to use the PR techniques that we’ve learned from the different theoretical foundations and trying to find the right approach to help out this organization that seems to really need to re-establish their image and importance within the community,” said Wiget.

One of the most memorable projects students worked on during Winter Quarter was a survey of upperclassmen at Wilmington High School.

“It was cool,” said senior Zeb Crawford.

A small group of six students were allowed to conduct the surveys during school hours.

The emotional testimonials the Wright State students heard were heartbreaking. Many kids had a parent who lost their job, and in some cases both parents were let go.

“I was shocked the high school let us do that,” said Crawford.

Wiget speculates his team got such great cooperation because the survey results were for Energize Clinton County, and it’s well known the group is working hard for economic recovery in the region.

“That’s a real buzz-phrase down there, economic recovery. People will do anything to help,” said Wiget.

He says his kids are just as dedicated.

After he told the class they’d be working with a real client, absences were almost nonexistent.

“I don’t think there have been 10 absences. People just don’t miss class,” said Wiget.

“If I ask for extra help, like creating an Excel spreadsheet for the survey results, they over-volunteer. They fight for the work because I think they see how valuable it’s going to be for their careers and what they want to do in the future,” said Wiget.