Maybe it’s the pollen in the air and the circuitous routes I’ve had to take to get around campus that have me thinking about the Yellow Brick Road. Or it could be that the Emerald City is on my mind after reading the announcement of the death of Meinhardt Raabe, who played the Munchkin coroner in “The Wizard of Oz.” Of course, it’s probably that I just saw “Wicked,” the upbeat musical version of Gregory Maguire’s considerably darker book of the same name. But I’ve been singing, “Oh what a celebration we’ll have today.”
And there’s lots to celebrate here in the School of Mass Communication. The 2010 Bateman team, taking on the U.S. Census as a client, was named one of the top 3 teams in the nationwide competition put on by the Public Relations Student Society of America. Those who know Loyola’s history in Bateman competition understand that it was almost a given that they’d be among the best of the 68 teams that competed in the first round. Dr. Cathy Rogers, PRSSA and Bateman adviser, has led teams to national glory as first place winners in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008 and 2009. As Christine Minero (account executive), Jodi Forte, Kate Gremillion, Dominic Moncada and Marimar Velez head to Washington, D.C. in mid-May to do their live presentation, they take our congratulations and support with them.
The Loyola Ad Team is putting the finishing touches on their presentation for the District 7 American Advertising Federation round of the National Student Advertising Competition, whose client this year is State Farm. Katy Villavicencio, Margaret Sanders, Laura Sanders, Diane Rama, Thomas Froehle, Diego Morales, Brendan Minard, Justin Ross, Mallory Smith, Cyrille Brathwaite, Kristin Sutton and the team’s account executive, Alysha Jean-Charles – led by Dr. Yolanda Cal, AAF adviser – head out Thursday to Mobile. We know they’ll soon be celebrating their success, and we send them off with our best wishes.
The SMC celebrated a year of success at Thursday’s annual Spring Fiesta in Dixon Court. With the Thelonius Monk Institute musicians adding a note of musical class to the event, Dr. Sonya Duhé, SMC director, recognized our outstanding mass communication students and award winners, as well as next year’s student media leaders.
It’s been quite a year for the SMC. Among our reasons to celebrate:
Dr. Duhé came aboard in August to direct the SMC. Dr. Leslie Parr led the Center for the Study of New Orleans through its inaugural year of programming and created a minor in New Orleans Studies. Dr. Sherry Alexander celebrated her selection as a photographer in the Fourth Juried Loyola International Photo Contest. Dr. Larry Lorenz was named the 2009 recipient of the Dux Academicus Award.
And there are many others in the SMC – and among our talented alumni – who’ve made us proud that they’re part of our school. Check out the SMC’s Web page to see more about our successes. (http://css.loyno.edu/masscomm/)
And one more reason to celebrate: Harold Baquet sent positive news from his bedside at M.D. Anderson. Get well soon, Harold.
