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Campus Review
January 31, 2014
Page 14
TRUST Looks Forward to 2014
by John Shiffert
Clayton State CMS Graduates are Making Dreams Real
Two of the founding members of TRUST
(Transforming Relations Using Student
Thinkers), Clayton State University’s stu-
dent public relations agency, are making
dreams real.
Sarah Boyd and Amanda Parham are
Clayton County residents who graduated
from Clayton State last month with B.A.
degrees in Communications and Media
Studies (CMS). As part of their final
semester at Clayton State, they were two
of the driving creative forces in Assistant
Professor of Communications Dr. Susan
McFarlane-Alvarez’ CMS3560 class,
which was also the basis for TRUST. How
good are Boyd (whose hometown is
Jonesboro and is a 2007 graduate of
Riverdale High School) and Parham (a
lifelong Morrow resident who graduated
from Jonesboro High School in 2008)?
Alvarez has paid them a high compli-
ment… she wants them to return to
Clayton State this semester as guest lec-
turers.
“We will miss our grads, but I also plan to
have them visit and share what they
learned in the agency and hopefully add a
bit of what they're doing now,” she
explains.
“I have high hopes for what we plan to
accomplish in the spring and will be mov-
ing forward with TRUST through my
Intro to Advertising class.”
Another testimonial to Boyd and Parham
is that they will also be continuing their
fall 2013 assignments as volunteer jour-
nalists for the Clayton State Office of
Public and Media Relations, and will be
contributing articles to the forthcoming
issue of Clayton State’s The Laker
Connection magazine.
“In the past 18 years, dozens of Clayton
State students have served as writers for
this office,” says Director of Public and
Media Relations John Shiffert. “Ms. Boyd
and Ms. Parham are easily among the top
five writer/journalists in that group.”
In addition to polishing her writing talent,
Boyd says her experience at Clayton State
has empowered her to define what she
wants to do with her career.
“I believe one of the things that is empow-
ering to me is the faculty and staff, partic-
ularly of the
CMS program,”
she says. “I
started learning
about different
aspects of the
media from pro-
fessors
who
have such a pas-
sion for teach-
ing their subject
and who are
also so knowl-
edgeable
on
their subject.
This has helped
me
decide
exactly what I
want to do with
my life, career
wise, and how I
am going to do
it.”
TRUST (Transforming Relations Using
Student Thinkers), Clayton State
University’s student public relations
agency, is looking forward to 2014.
Although several members of the 2013
TRUST cadre, formed from Assistant
Professor of Communications Dr. Susan
McFarlane-Alvarez’
CMS3560
(Communications and Media Studies)
class, have graduated, Alvarez is expect-
ing great things from the coming semes-
ter, with new challenges and new opportu-
nities.
“We will miss our grads, but I also plan to
have them visit and share what they
learned in the agency and hopefully add a
bit of what they're doing now,” she
explains.
“I have high hopes for what we plan to
accomplish in the spring and will be mov-
ing forward with TRUST through my
Intro to Advertising class.
“And I trust... It will all go well. (We’re)
looking forward to more great things!”
Although TRUST was formed during the
fall 2013 semester as a class project spe-
cific to Alvarez’ fall CMS3560 class, the
agency will be on-going with a constantly
changing roster of students, offering its
services to both on-campus departments
and the public. As a future member of
PRSSA, TRUST is organized exactly like
a commercial PR agency, with individual
students serving as Management, Account
Executives, Creative: Visuals, and
Creative: Copy.
Among the December 2013 graduates
Alvarez will be inviting back as guest lec-
turers for the spring 2014 semester are
two of the pre-eminent members of the
creative wing of the 2013 agency, CMS
graduates Amanda Parham and Sarah
Boyd, both of whom will also continue
their fall 2013 assignments as volunteer
journalists for the Clayton State Office of
Public and Media Relations. Parham also
has an additional credit – she came up
with the TRUST acronym.
During the fall 2013 semester, TRUST got
off to a strong start, including doing a
press release for CSiR's (Clayton State
Internet Radio) open mic night. However,
TRUST really came into its own in con-
junction with the Nov. 7 on-campus pres-
entation by producer and recording engi-
neer Matt Forger. Drawing inspiration
from Forger’s work with Michael Jackson
and his “Thriller” album, TRUST’s
Darius Booker, a Clayton State Theatre
major who also graduated in December
2013, organized several on-campus flash
mobs to promote the Forger event. Boyd,
Parham and Jake Gentry also wrote press
releases for the Forger event.
Boyd
Parham
CMS alumni, cont’d., p. 17
TRUST, cont’d., p. 22