Night of clarity for Student Marketing Association
Georgia Gay, Contributing Writer
A vision was cast for the Student Marketing Association on Tuesday, Nov. 13. Students gathered in Neves 1 at 7:00 p.m. for warm pizza, fun icebreakers and thoughtful conversation about what the club would accomplish and how it would provide a helpful outlet for marketing students.
While the club is mostly for marketing majors, interdisciplinary majors with a focus on marketing and mass communication majors are welcome. Mollie Withers, a marketing professor and overseer of the club, and David Riddering, the department chair, led the meeting tonight with high spirits and hopeful attitudes.
“I hope this is something you [students] are excited about,” said Withers. Withers wants students to be able to network and to provide leadership opportunities. She finds that it is important to develop leadership skills in order to gain experience needed for finding a job after college.
Students would be running the club to help with developing leadership skills while Withers and Riddering will help facilitate. “We want to see this flourish and succeed,” said Riddering. He went on to say that he is excited to get the ball rolling on this.
While everything is still a work in progress, there was much to be said on what can come out of the club. Towards the end of the meeting, Withers opened the floor for discussion on what the club could provide in terms of opportunities and networking. There will be guest speakers, one set up by Withers and Riddering, and other options offered by the students.
Field trips were also an option and people shared how they could visit local marketing firms. Shadowing was also mentioned, where students could watch someone in the marketing field and get a feel for what it’s like to be a marketer in the real world.
Those looking to join can find Withers or Riddering to discuss more details. The fee to join is $20, which is for the entire year. The first official meeting will be held on Jan. 15, 2019. Those that join must attend at least one meeting a semester and leaders must attend all meetings. The meetings will be held on the third Tuesday of the month, meaning there are roughly three meetings a semester.
Emails for Withers and Riddering are:
mwithers@ngu.edu
driddering@ngu.edu