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By Maggie Sweeney
On October 24th, students from all over Northeast Ohio came eager to learn from industry professionals and connect with other passionate PR students. Marcus Thomas LLC collaborated with Cleveland State’s Senior Capstone class to organize PRSA Cleveland Student Day. The event featured panels with various professionals, networking opportunities and bonding among universities such as Kent State, Cleveland State and Mount Union. Decorated PR Professionals After having breakfast, students were split into four groups to meet with four guest speakers. McKinzey Saig, PR and communications leader at Marcus Thomas LLC, shared her work on the Vitamix campaign to showcase the value that agencies bring to brands. Agencies give their clients the flexibility to have more or less PR and a broader perspective. Chelsea Penfield, media relations and content strategist at Marcus Thomas LLC, shared helpful tips to land an internship and create content. Her unique perspective as someone who has just started in the industry proved her dedication during college helped her succeed outside of the classroom. Kendra Davis, PR professional at the Cleveland Foundation, shared the ins and outs of nonprofit PR. The goal of nonprofit PR is to connect people to the mission and show them the impact that the company makes. This is only successful when people believe in your mission and help you achieve it. Katie Archer, PR professional at Ascensus, helped students explore the importance of internal communications. Internal communication helps employees connect to the direction the company is going and what it is doing to get there. When working in internal communications, it is important to understand all the communication that is happening between different departments to not overwhelm employees with too much information. Finally, students had the opportunity to speak with more professionals through speed networking. This event was a great way for students to learn about the many opportunities available in the PR industry and connect with students at other universities.
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Kent State PRSSA Receives Cleveland Rocks Award for the 2025 Bateman Case Study Competition12/3/2025  By Jess Edmisten
What is Bateman? Bateman Case Study Competition is an annual national competition from the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). The opportunity offers undergraduates real-world public relations experience with hands-on research, planning, implementation and evaluation of a campaign for a real-world client. This year, the Kent State University team was honored to represent the chapter among dozens of schools nationwide. The team’s casebook traveled to New York for national judging, where it earned an impressive score of 89. Award-Winning Campaign PRSSA Kent made history at the 2025 PRSA Rock Awards when the 2025 Bateman team received gold. This is the first time this category was featured in the event and the first time students have been nominated and won. Judged by the chapter’s sister organization in Chicago, the award recognized the team’s dedication, creativity and strategic work throughout the campaign. Being part of an event with top communications professionals from across the Greater Cleveland area was an honor and an inspiring experience for the Bateman team. The gold award represents the highest level of recognition for their outstanding work. Strategic work for EveryLibrary Kent State PRSSA partnered with EveryLibrary, the client for the 2025 Bateman Case Study Competition, to develop a strategic campaign that positioned the organization as a national leader in library advocacy, donor engagement and community outreach. Kent State’s team was composed of six talented PRSSA students: Jeremy Deloof, Maya Lee, Caitlyn Soya, Ana Julia Cechin Facco, Paige Johnson and Jess Edmisten. These students developed and executed a strategic campaign, including content creation, audience-driven social media strategy and event planning. The team exceeded all four of their stated campaign objectives. Refer to the 2025 Bateman Casebook for a detailed report that outlines research findings, strategies, tactics and evaluation. Key Takeaways from the Team The Bateman participants shared its lasting benefits: “Bateman gave me the utmost confidence to tackle any project that came afterward. Bateman is extremely comprehensive; it just gives you a skillset for a bunch of relevant things afterwards.” – Paige Johnson, senior “It gave me a lot of real-world PR skills that I can take with me post-graduate… I have been able to talk about it during internship interviews so it’s a great portfolio piece.” – Caitlyn Soya, junior “I got experience in social media, which is something that I wanted to do… pitching skills are out of the roof now.” – Ana Julia, senior “The Bateman Competition allowed myself and my team to prove that we don’t just study public relations, we live it. It’s one thing to learn the strategies, but another to bring them to life through real-world application.”- Jess Edmisten, senior Why Join Bateman? Participation in Bateman aligns firmly with the PRSSA’s mission. Students develop professional readiness, engage in ethical work, and showcase leadership in public relations. For PRSSA members, participating in Bateman is an academic milestone, a prestigious résumé builder, a powerful portfolio piece and a testament to one’s commitment to excellence in strategic communication. This experience elevates the visibility of our students, enhances our reputation and lays the groundwork for future success. The 2025 Bateman team extends its best wishes for success to the 2026 Bateman teams.  By: Julia Greco
Her Role at Disney From coordinating Kent State’s PRSSA networking events to managing communications for Walt Disney World, alumna Meghan Caprez turned her dreams into a lifelong career of storytelling and communications strategy. As a communications manager at Walt Disney World, Caprez supports corporate social responsibility initiatives and Disney’s transportation division, helping shape the brand’s image across Florida’s parks and resorts. “My department is in charge of the reputation of Walt Disney World,” she said. “Every cast member has a story, and being able to represent and share those 80,000 stories is just a really awesome place to be.” Her Journey to Disney Her journey began in high school, when she first learned about the Disney College Program. By the time she arrived at Kent State, she was already planning to make it part of her college experience. “I walked into my first advising appointment saying, ‘I will need to plan to have a semester off so I can do the Disney College Program,” she said. After completing two Disney College Programs and earning her bachelor’s degree in public relations and master’s in communication studies, she landed a professional internship with Disney at 22. There, she would do work such as writing speeches for the president of Walt Disney World. “I remember thinking, how is this my real life?” she said. That internship launched a career path that’s taken her through digital analytics, project management and major milestones like Disney’s 50th anniversary celebration. Favorite Moments and Key Takeaways Among her favorite projects is the “Once Upon a Wish” event with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, in which Disney hosted 50 children and their families for a royal ball experience. “Watching the moms crown their daughters with the crowns they designed themselves–it was chills and tears,” she said. “These are the moments that remind you why we do what we do.” Looking back, she credits PRSSA Kent for helping her build the professionalism and confidence that set her apart in corporate communications. “PRSSA gave me the tools I needed to step into the professional world and be ready for it,” she said. “You never stop networking, it doesn’t end when you leave college.” Advice to current students: “Relentlessly pursue your dreams”  By Audrey McCarthy
In 2024, as a sophomore, I had the opportunity to work as a retail operations intern for the Cleveland Guardians. This exciting opportunity gave me great experience with the sports industry. When I wasn’t working in the gift shop, I was learning from professionals in the Cleveland Guardians organization. Speaker Series During the season, I attended several speaker series in which professionals from different industries within the organization shared their background, what they do for the Guardians and general advice about success. Some of the fields I learned about included marketing, community impact, security, ballpark operations, corporate partnerships, communications, travel and logistics and merchandising. Each of these speakers gave me a unique look into the professional sports world. Job Shadowing In addition to learning about multiple industries, I was also given the opportunity to shadow any speaker in the industry of my choosing. My coworker and I shadowed Austin Controulis, the assistant director of communications, who recommended that I join PRSSA. The first thing I did was observe a Stephen Vogt interview where I sat in the audience with multiple reporters and sportscasters. After this, Austin took me through the clubhouse and onto the field where he shared more about the communications industry as we watched the team warm up. Then, we walked to the media press box seats where we spoke to the Cleveland Guardians’ social media manager. This experience was extremely valuable and gave me helpful insight into what it’s like to manage communications for a professional sports team in a fast-paced environment. Gift shop On game days, I worked as a cashier in the gift shop. 2024 was a very successful year for the Guardians, and sales in the gift shops definitely reflected this. This season brought in some of the most successful days in sales. Conclusion This experience was insightful, intriguing and memorable. It helped me determine that sports communications is definitely something I want to pursue.dit. By Amanda Hickey  |
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