It’s no secret that I love St. John Fisher College. From 2013-2017, Fisher was my second home where I lived and learned day in and day out.
I started my college career in the fall of 2013 as a Marketing major in the School of Business. I’m honored to say that I was also joined Beta Gamma Sigma, the international business honor society for business students in the top ten percent of their class. In May of 2017, I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.93 GPA, earning the highest GPA in Fisher’s Marketing class of 2017.
Since Fisher is a liberal arts school, I took a few other classes in different disciplines as well, and found myself finding a real interest in a variety of subjects. Over time, one thing led to another, and I picked up several minors to enrich my marketing degree. These include: Strategic Communications, Visual & Performing Arts, and Digital Cultures & Technologies. By taking classes in these minors, I became not only a strategic marketer, but learned the skills required to execute my plan, such as photography, videography, graphic design, and so forth.
Classes
Some classes I took that I found to be particularly useful in the marketing field include:
– MKTG 327: Buyer Behavior
– COMM 267: Social Media Management
– MKTG 344: Personal Selling
– COMM 363: Media Research & Analytics
– ARTS 236: Photography / ARTS 112: Digital Art
– MKTG 415: Internet Marketing
– COMM 481: Ad Strategy & Production (taken through JAY Advertising Agency)
Involvement
Though classes are a great asset, I also owe a lot of my knowledge and experience to my campus involvement at Fisher. Throughout my time in college, I have played major roles on three executive boards of clubs, including:
- Marketing Coordinator, Student Activities Board (SAB)
- SAB was the largest programming board on campus, hosting as much as 2-3 events every week. So many events throughout the semester means a lot of marketing. From sophomore to senior year, I was the Marketing Coordinator of the club, designing posters, emails, social media, and a plethora of Fisher T-Shirts and promo materials.
- Promotions Manager (2015-16), Vice President (2014-15), & President (2016-17) of Fisher Swingbirds
- Fisher Swingbirds was our jazz band on campus that formed during my freshman year. Because I joined as soon as it was being formed, the door was open for me to quickly become a leader in the club. My sophomore year, I acted as Vice President, aiding in recruiting members to join. Junior Year, I decided to switch to Promotions Manager: designing posters, flyers, & programs, as well as running the club’s social media. My senior year, I really stepped up and became President of the club, running all operations and becoming the go-to leader for all club decisions.
- Director of Creative Design for Fisher Players
- Fisher Players is the campus drama club, putting on a large production each semester as well as a couple smaller side performances. In my role as Director of Creative Design, I designed and branded the aesthetic for each production. In addition to this, I also took leadership roles within the shows. During our production of The Drowsy Chaperone, I was Orchestra Director. In this role, I was completely in charge of recruiting, leading, and organizing rehearsals for the pit, and conducted all of the musical numbers during the performances.
Through doing marketing for so many major clubs on campus, I have gained a reputation among club officers as the “go-to” person when their club needs marketing help, and have led trainings for club marketers to go to and learn the best practices for on-campus marketing.
I have also participated in an on-campus program entitled “Emerging Leaders” and was also an orientation team leader for three years, welcoming and introducing new freshmen to the College and showing them the ropes. Lastly, I was a student ambassador, providing on-campus tours to perspective students.
ASHLEY FLANAGAN 