Stepping into the classroom, Emily Kilgore had to grow up fast.
Kilgore, a 21-year-old public relations major, discovered that homework in upper-level PR classes at ETSU didn’t always take place at home. That revelation led to real world experience – which was just fine with her. “I don’t know if I’d feel ready for the real world without it,” Kilgore said.

The fall 2006 president of the PR agency Connecting Dots, the professional name for PR Practices, a class that forces students test what they’ve learned against real world challenges. “In PR Practices, we work for clients on campus and off,” Kilgore said. “It’s up to us to make them happy.”

This real-world experience isn’t only for PR majors. Advertising, broadcasting, theater, and journalism students all take classes designed to create true-to-life situations. These classes empower students with confidence. “My goal is to be in event planning,” said Kilgore, who has helped plan Communications Day (designed to attract high school students to ETSU’s communication program), Notable Women (which brings successful women to ETSU to speak to students), and is involved in planning two events for Girls Inc. of Kingsport. “I think it’s been perfect experience for me.”

Laura Diaz, Kilgore’s classmate who also graduated in spring 2007, feels the same way. She’s gained confidence in working with clients. “We’ve encountered different types of clients,” said Diaz, whose agency worked on the College of Nursing and the Women’s Studies accounts. “You have people who are like, ‘This is what I want. Do what I want,’ and others who say, ‘Just do what you want.’

“It makes me feel really confident that I can go into the real world and use my abilities.”

ETSU advertising majors find their own challenges in the National Students Advertising Competition. NSAC allows colleges who have American Advertising Federation chapters to compete against hundreds of other college students for a national account with a mega-corporation. In years past, students developed marketing campaigns for companies such as Yahoo, Toyota and Burger King in the annual competition.

ETSU’s AAF chapter takes form in a class that pushes its students to compete and win in the event. While the groups from ETSU have never won overall, the experience students garner from the competition is invaluable “They can walk away from that and know they can go into their careers,” said D.J. Jessee, an advertising instructor who helps teach the class. “It’s really a capstone class that we’re thrilled to offer.”

The competitive nature of NSAC provides students with true to life experience, says Jessee, who’s been involved with NSAC at ETSU since its inception in 1999. “It’s tremendously fierce,” Jessee said. “When we get there, the students are as primed as athletes. You can see how your work measures up.
“Clients can love you or hate you, based on all the wrong or right reasons.”

Competitions like NSAC help students fine-tune their work ethic and teaches them how to get the job done, Jessee says. The experience also introduces the students to the careers they have made their goals. “NSAC was an excellent experience,” said Ben Coates, a 24-year-old advertising major who competed for ETSU in the 2007 NSAC competition. “It prepares you for what the real world will be like. You have to work in teams, meet deadlines, and compete against others for a company's business.

“Going to Nashville allowed me to see what kind of jobs are out there and what you actually do at these jobs.”

Winning the competition would only be the beginning of the benefits for a student, Jessee says. Often the winners are offered an interview at the mega-companies that sponsor the competition. Coates found his own reward. “These experiences enable you to decide if this is the kind of career you would like and how all of the pieces of the big puzzle come together,” Coates said.

“College would be a very lacking experience if students were not exposed to things like NSAC, tours of actual companies, or in my case have two excellent teachers that have worked in the field and have an actual knowledge of how things work.”

Broadcasting majors find real world experience at ETSU in television, radio and film. Hours at Buc TV is available to any interested student and all broadcasting students must put in time performing as “DJs” for Edge Radio, the campus radio station.

Jason Brooks, a 22-year-old broadcasting major, is required to work on Inside Buc Sports, a radio program delves into the ETSU sports program. “Each episode creates its own problems and the way you can work on things,” Brooks said. “I’ve done almost every job from cameraman to assistant director.”

Real-world experience introduced Brooks to aspects of broadcasting that he hadn’t looked at before. “It has broadened my horizons on what I want to do,” Brooks said. “Most people want to do one thing when they start in the program but doing any of the work allows us to grow and learn.

“I have spoken with many of those who have already graduated and asked them if what we were doing here would help us in the real world. They have told me there really isn’t any real difference.”

Journalism and PR students write stories and cover assigned beats and theatre students perform in and create productions and work behind the scenes. Everyone who majors in communication at ETSU can expect classes that feel more like jobs.

Jessee wouldn’t want the classes to be any other way. She’s recognized the benefits of real world experience and is glad she can be a part of what’s going on in the Communication Department. “There are other things a college or department can do to enhance classroom learning,” Jessee said. “But it’s a benefit that’s hard to replicate.”