Alexis Williams | Co-Social Media Manager
Five Buena Vista University students took on a local promotional campaign focused on the impact of music within a community. The team of students worked with the Storm Lake Music Department, UCN Studios, Buena Vista University Theatre, and The Storm Lake Music Boosters to spread the word that music moves a community.
The message behind the campaign, Music Moves in Harmony to Unite a Community, is intended to bring light on the impact music has in the lives of the youth and how the impact of music stays with people over time.
The campaign’s primary focus was to bring attention to the UCN studios documentary, Taking Stage. The documentary follows the Storm Lake Music Department on their 2014 trip to perform and compete at Festival Disney for the Golden Mickey. The secondary premise for the campaign was to aid in helping the Storm Lake Music Boosters raise money for a Steinway & Sons piano.
Through community partnerships and heavy media coverage, the campaign is expected to be a large success. The students, Hannah Zimmerman, Griffin Truslow, Jasmine Bautista, Kamsa Thephavong and Alexis Williams, were frequently engaging in promotional activities for the premiere. The students are enrolled in Integrated Media Campaigns, taught by Professor Jerry Johnson, which introduced them to the project.
“The ability for the students to apply theory and strategy to practice is an important part of the experience. I hope the students will learn and discover the positive impact that they can have on their community using their career talents and professional applications,” Johnson said.
Griffin Truslow, Junior Corporate Communication major, states that “this project has been an incredible learning experience for us all. We’ve been able to gain real-world experience, good and bad, to develop as professionals.”
The project was completely based in a real-world setting, and all class periods were termed “production meetings” to help move progress along in the classroom.
“At first, the project seemed overwhelming. It’s not often that students have the ability to work with a client and make a true impact in the community. It was a lot of pressure! But now that it is coming to a close, it is really cool to see how much we have done in the past two months. I’m really excited for the premiere to be here,” Truslow said.
The premiere is scheduled for 2:00pm in Anderson Auditorium (at Buena Vista University) on Saturday, April 25, 2015.
For more information visit Facebook.com/MusicMovesStormLake.
Graphic by Krystal Schulte
