To: Dorothy Bland, Kim Keller, Larry Powell, Brittany McElroy and Caleb Reed
From: Jayline Quintana
Date: 12/04/24
Subject: Agenda for Mayborn faculty presentations at Denton High School
On Dec. 6, we will be visiting Denton High School to inform their sophomore, junior, and senior students about UNT and the various concentrations majors/concentrations available through the Mayborn School of Journalism. We will be there from 10- 11a.m., with half an hour being dedicated to staff speeches, and the rest of the time to small group Q&As, where students will rotate between each faculty member. We are expecting 175 students to attend the event. Joel Hays, the high school’s principal, will start off the event with an introductory speech, then each faculty member will get five minutes to speak. After speeches, students will be broken up into small groups of 35 for Q &As. Below are some useful demographics and psychographics of the students at Denton High School to consider when drafting your speeches.
According to USNews, Denton High School’s demographics are:
Psychographics
The address for Denton High School is 3001 Bronco Wy, Denton, TX 76207
Directions to Denton High from Sycamore Hall:
The agenda: 12/06/24
10:00 a.m. - 10:05 a.m. : Principal Hay’s introduction speech
10:06 a.m. - 10:11 a.m. : Bland’s speech
10:12 a.m.- 10:18 a.m. : Keller’s speech
10:19 a.m. - 10:24 a.m. : Power’s speech
10:25 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. : McElroy’s speech
10:31 a.m. - 10:36 a.m. : Reed’s speech
10:37 a.m. - 10:42 a.m. : Break into small groups
10:43 a.m. - 10:53 a.m. : Small group Q&As
10:53 a.m. - 10:56 a.m. : Transition back to full group
10:57 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. : Hay’s final speech
Good morning, everyone. (SMILE AND LOOK ACROSS ROOM) My name is Kim Keller, and I’m a senior lecturer at U-N-T. I’m so excited to be here with you guys to discuss P-R. Specifically, what P-R is (PAUSE) and why you might be interested in starting your communications career at U-N-T.
That being said I would first like to start off with one of my favorite quotes. (WALK TO STAGE RIGHT) American businessman Warren Buffet once said, “It takes twenty years to build a reputation (PAUSE) and five minutes to ruin it.” Think about that for a second. Can you guys think of some companies today, whose years of public goodwill were ruined because of one mistake? The truth is that every major organization and public figure out there has faced controversy.
Yet, at the end of the day one major factor that determines whether that company can back from controversy (PAUSE) is their public response. This is what P-R is, and where P-R professionals come in.
Now I know you have probably heard P-R defined in a hundred different ways. However, at the end of the day P-R is about strategic communication. It's about helping organizations build and maintain relationships with their communities. It’s about providing an organization’s key publics with the information they need. (WALK BACK TO CENTER STAGE)
So how do P-R professionals do this? We create media releases that inform audiences about important events happening in our organization. These media releases are then shared with journalists who write for our target audiences. We help plan and run special events for our organizations. We prepare our organization’s leaders for media interviews. (EMPHASIZE) We help create engaging social media content for organizations.
I know everybody in this room knows how to make TikToks. How to take the perfect Instagram photo. The P-R field is one of the best ways you can exercise this skill while getting paid, y’all. Now what does the career and financial outlook look like for P-R? P-R is a competitive field, but the future looks promising. According to the U-S Bureau of Labor Statistics, P-R is growing. Over the next decade, the field is expected to grow at a rate of six percent. This rate is faster than the national average, y’all.
The average entry level salary for a P-R professional is 45 thousand to 50 thousand dollars in Dallas.
However, one of my absolute favorite things about P-R is how broad the industry is. Whether it’s sports, beauty, or healthcare, P-R professionals are needed everywhere.
So, what skills do you need to work in P-R? Strong communication, writing, research and planning skills are among the most helpful. However, these are all skills that can be learned. The most important one for aspiring P-R professionals to come in with is flexibility. P-R is a fast-paced field and is always evolving.
Across my 25-year career, I have worked with several national corporations like FedEx as a P-R professional. I also have extensive experience in journalism where I’ve written for organizations like the Dallas Morning News and Forbes. I say this to explain that P-R and journalism are directly connected.
Organizations rely on third party endorsements. This idea refers to how organizations need positive coverage from independent sources to build stronger relationships with their audiences. I mean think about it. Would you guys consider an organization more trustworthy if you saw it had been featured in the news? I know I would. Relationships between journalists and P-R professionals are incredibly important. (WALK BACK TO CENTER STAGE).
U-N-T understands the value of these relationships. Which is why even when you’re on the P-R track, you’ll be taking a lot of the same entry level courses as regular journalism students. So, you can start forming these relationships with your peers as early as possible.
U-N-T also offers courses like P-R writing and crisis communications to help you develop the practical skills needed for the industry. Additionally, we have a student run P-R agency on campus. Our goal is to help you practice these skills through real-world experiences early.
Finally, I would just like to say like many of you, I am a first-generation student. I know tackling the transition from high school to college is hard. One of U-N-T's many resources for students is the first-generation student success center.
The center helps our students navigate all the confusing elements of college, like financial aid and literacy.
U-N-T is proud to offer high quality education, at a lower cost. I highly encourage you to visit U-N-T dot com for more information about why U-N-T and Mayborn are the right home for you. Thank you.
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