Westminster's public relations class is one of several classes at Westminster College participating in "service learning" projects funded by the Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

"The class is divided into three groups. Each of these groups is responsible for servicing a non-profit client. The students provide service to the community on a pro bono basis (just as they will as PR professionals) and, at the same time, they learn from the experience of dealing with a real client and real PR problems or opportunities," said Dr. James Perkins, Westminster professor of English.

"My non-profit project group is working with Biz Hines [Westminster director of alumni planning and programming],"said Sherri Slafka, a senior public relations and Spanish major from Irwin. "We are working with the more mature' alumni. We have met twice to talk about the steps to achieve our goals. We are looking at similar schools' Websites and Homecoming activities to see what was done to make Websites user-friendly and Homecoming more fun. Each member of the team has a few schools to investigate."

"There is a team working with The Silk Road [a fair trade shop in town] to increase awareness for this non-profit business run by Wendy Farmerie," Slafka continued. "There is also a team working with the Westminster Alumni Office trying to find a way to bridge the gap between current students and alumni."

"The for profit' project is an individual project," said Kristan Kohley, a senior public relations major from Saxonburg. "Each student is responsible for finding a client who will pay for his or her public relations services and everyone made the deadline. Most of us went to our own social network because they were familiar. I chose Fab-Tec Industries, a steel fabrication plant located in Coraopolis, because even though my family has been in this business for years, I didn't know much about it. I had to research this service. When I thought I had enough knowledge about the business, I wrote a press release for a journal whose primary audience is steel businesses. I know there's no guarantee that it will be printed, but I hope so."

"This class really helps my understanding of my position at Ketchum, where I am now a full-time hourly employee," Kohley said. "I don't regret working before I graduate from Westminster. I can see how the class information integrates into my job and I put this knowledge to work. I get to see the value of our public relations program."

Perkins chose Colleges that Change Lives by Loren Pope to serve as a textbook for this class.

"This book lists 40 outstanding colleges, but Westminster is not included," Kohley said. "Westminster does share striking similarities with each institution mentioned. Our project is to do research on each of the colleges listed and then determine why Westminster isn't there. Finally we hope to contact Loren Pope with our findings to see if he would consider visiting our campus and perhaps keep us in consideration for inclusion in the next edition."

"The research portion of this course involves everyone in the class," said Rachel Brown, a senior public relations major from Pittsburgh. "The schools [as listed in Pope's book] were divided and assigned to us. In my research I have found that Allegheny College is similar to us in SAT scores, student/faculty ratio and tuition. They are different when it comes to percentage of students who stay all weekend. They offer much of the same entertainment at Westminster, but more of Allegheny students come from farther away and that could be the reason more stay there. I've just started my research about Lynchburg College. They have a lecture series that brings in well-known speakers like Janet Reno and Robert Kennedy. They have at least one each year which may make them more identifiable to more people. I am really interested in Hiram research, but I wasn't assigned to it. I think it will be interesting to read the research when everyone is finished."

"This class is designed to help the students develop their confidence to complete long-term commitments as opposed to term-long projects," Perkins said. "The service learning experience is a pro bono project involving public relations for a non-profit organization; the for-profit project will exact payment; but the research portion of this class is two semesters long and carries over to the student's capstone experience."

The mission of the Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning is to enrich undergraduate education. Multiple and diverse means are employed to fulfill this mission. Current programs include undergraduate research and collaborative research with faculty, incorporation of academically meaningful community service into the curricula, and collaborations that address community and regional needs and strengthen K-12 education.

Contact Perkins (724) 946-7347 or e-mail mailto:jperkins@westminster.edu for more information.

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