The Public Relations Student Society of America, or PRSSA at ONU, is ONU’s college chapter of an organization that allows students to work on improving their pre-professional life.
PRSSA gives students a chance to learn more about the public relations world, meet new people, and practice networking skills. Although this organization is mainly for public relations students, it is open to all majors at ONU.
At the first meeting, new members had the chance to learn about ONU’s chapter and its benefits.
Megan Cottongim, vice president of ONU’s chapter, said, “This chapter involves networking opportunities, like every Thursday they have a guest speaker, luncheons once a month, and a conference every fall.”
Cottongim explained that these luncheons give students a chance to exchange contact information with professionals and hopefully find mentors. Their meetings on Thursdays give students the opportunity to learn about different professions in the public relations world. In addition, a trip to the PRSSA conference held in Washington, D.C. serves as an opportunity where professionals and pre-professional students from different states can get together and interact with each other for a weekend.
At one of their meetings, PRSSA at ONU members got a chance to Skype with Heather Bartman, who is an Ohio University graduate who now works as an account executive at Fahlgren Mortine. They discussed what it was like be fresh out of college and get a job you love.
Besides meeting new people, PRSSA also offers an opportunity to work with the PR firm at ONU, which meets every Monday at 5 p.m. in the PAC computer lab. A few small businesses are already working with ONU’s firm.
“This gives you real clients to work with to prepare you for work after college,” Cottongim said.
Experience like this will also look good on a resume, which will be needed for any profession. Soon, PRSSA at ONU will be offering a resume workshop that would be beneficial to all students.