PRSSA Kent Members earn honorable mentions in Bateman Competition

PRSSA Kent entered two teams into this year’s PRSSA National Bateman Case Study Competition, which tasked students to create public relations campaigns focused on mental health on behalf of Campaign to Change Direction. After months of hard work, both teams received honorable mentions.

Sixty-seven teams participated nationwide, fifteen were recognized with honorable mentions and three teams presented their campaigns as finalists.

Each year, ten PRSSA Kent members are invited to participate in the PRSSA National Case Study Competition. Tim Roberts, associate lecturer and undergraduate studies coordinator, advises both teams and is assisted by one professional adviser for each team.

The PRKent program has a great history with the Bateman competition, receiving second place in 2013 and an honorable mention in the past three out of four years. This is the first time in the history of PRKent that both Bateman teams have received honorable mentions.

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The Bateman Gold and Bateman Blue teams took the same challenge and tackled it in two completely different ways.

Bateman Gold created a campaign focused on mental health stigmas in the senior citizen community, with team members:  

• Latisha Ellison, ‘18
• Daniel Henderson, ‘18
• Taylor Pierce, ‘18
• Lauryn Rosinski, ‘17
• Rachel Stevenson, ‘18

“It’s an incredibly rewarding feeling to see our hard work recognized with this honorable mention, but to be honest, winning was secondary to our goal,” said Daniel Henderson. “We cared about being advocates for our public and our client, and making real changes that benefited both, and our evaluation proved we accomplished that. That is the real victory for us.”

Bateman Blue created a campaign focused on African American college students, with team members:

• Holly Disch, ‘18
• Brittney Prather, ‘18
• Kristin Slomiany, ‘17
• Charleah Trombitas, ‘18
• Nicole Zahn, ‘18

“This case study opened my eyes to the importance of understanding mental health and how I can help others,” said Nicole Zahn. “Receiving an honorable mention for the Are You Ok? Campaign shows that we exceeded our goals and made a strong impact on those in need.”

For more information about the Bateman Case Study Competition, contact Tim Roberts at tarober1@kent.edu or visit PRSSA's website.