One of the largest hotel chains in the United States has teamedwith The University of Memphis every year since 1999 to providestudents with the necessary experience needed to succeed in theirchosen field.
Choice Hotels (previously Hilton Hotels) and the U.S. OpenRacquetball Championships have actively teamed with The Universityof Memphis Public Relations Student Society of America as a chancefor the public relations students to practice their skills.
Tuesday evening, the students covered the St. Jude Professional/Amateur Doubles tournament, hosted by The Racquet Club of Memphis.The tournament gives the students their first taste of the ChoiceHotels U.S. Open.
Throughout the event, the students will closely work with topprofessional athletes and various press outlets. They will beresponsible for all contacts, including interacting with theathletes' local media, issuing press releases and providing themedia with digital images.
Journalism professor Rick Fischer initiated the program afterbeing contacted by the events officials. It is open to alljournalism students, especially those looking to build theirresum�s.
Fischer said the students basically run the program and think ofit as an intense weeklong internship. While working, the studentsare referred to as press officers, and their jobs garner muchrespect from all those involved.
Ryan John, U.S. Open media operations manager, said the eightstudents were crucial to the event.
"They have been a valuable resource," John said. "We needed themto pull this off."
He said without the students, the U.S. Open would not have beenable to generate such an enormous amount of press coverage. On theother hand, John said the students are ultimately the onesreceiving the real benefits.
"They're getting the hands-on experience of working a majorsporting event," he said.
Not to lessen the impact of a sound education, John said nothingcompares to them doing the actual work themselves.
"Until you actually get your hands dirty, you're really notsure," John said. "I think it gives them confidence."
Senior journalism major Amanda Mauch said the program was veryhelpful for her.
Before becoming involved in it her sophomore year, she said shewas unsure of what path to take after graduation. Her experiencesin the program, she said, are what made her want to concentrate onmedia relations.
"Young students really need to get involved in this," Mauchsaid. "The earlier you start in a program like this, the moreprepared you'll be. It's a great way to build your portfolio.
"It's great to be able to go into interviews and pull out pressreleases and other things that you've done. So many other studentsnever get experience like this."
Event director Doug Ganim said he has been especially pleasedwith the results from students like Mauch over the past fewyears.
"We have been incredibly impressed with the quality of work thatThe University of Memphis students have produced while working inour media operations center," Ganim said.
Currently, The U of M is the only school participating in theprogram, however, U.S. Open coordinators hope to expand regionallygetting other universities involved.
