Thanks to three future alumni, the performance of this magazine is moving into a higher gear. These current students recently took on Exemplar as a “client.” Their assignment: devise a plan to increase the magazine’s visibility and long-term viability. The students – Jared Gierucki, Charnika Jett and Sara Sanders – were members of a fall semester course titled “Writing for Public Relations,” taught by Melissa Motschall, a professor in the public relations program.

I volunteered to serve as a client so the students could apply their skills and knowledge in communications, marketing and public relations. (This field experience is an example of the growing use of Academic Service-Learning at EMU, a process that breaks down the so-called walls between theoretical classroom learning and practical real-world experience.) First, a little about the team: Gierucki is a junior from Hartland, Mich., majoring in journalism. He expects to graduate in December. Jett is a senior from Detroit, majoring in journalism. She also expects to graduate in December. And Sanders is a senior from Fowlerville, Mich., majoring in public relations. She expects to graduate in April.

So what did this PR team accomplish and how will it affect what you read? First, we developed a comprehensive online survey to be sent electronically in January. The survey will go to all EMU alumni with e-mail addresses on file with the EMU Foundation. The survey will gauge your reading habits with the magazine, as well as opinions on such topics as subscription fees and magazine display and classified advertising. When compiled, the results will be the most comprehensive reader survey since the magazine launched in September 2003.

Second, the group created and implemented a plan to increase the magazine’s visibility among current students, particularly seniors. The tactics included scheduling an interview for me to appear on the campus student radio station (WQBR) and staffing an information table and answering questions of passers-by inside the EMU Student center. (As an incentive to get students to stop, we ordered green Exemplar-emblazoned stress balls (see inset, above), which I’m sure came in handy during finals week.

Lastly, they put on their reporters’ caps and researched a series of articles regarding tattoos and the current EMU student body. They found students with tattoos and conducted interviews with them as well as tattoo parlor owners. (The articles will appear in the spring issue of Exemplar, which is scheduled to arrive in homes in early May.)

Working with Jared, Charnika and Sara reminded me time and again of my own undergraduate years on campus. All of us shared a common challenge: balancing the rigors of classwork with the demands of holding outside jobs. (Every student on my team worked at least 20 hours a week at an outside job). That reality seems as prevalent today among EMU students as it was 20-plus years ago.

Sara is scheduled to become the first of the group to move onto the Exemplar subscriber rolls when she graduates in April. When she and the other team members get their first issue, they will no doubt take pride knowing that the magazine is better because of their collective efforts. And to think: the ink will hardly be dry on their diplomas.