OSU's School of Media & Strategic Communications' Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter entered the country's premiere public relations competition on Friday, March 29.

The Bateman Case Study Competition is PRSSA's contest that provides students the opportunity to apply classroom education and internship experiences to create and implement a full public relations campaign.  This year's participants developed a campaign for the PRSA Foundation, a charitable organization that is committed to promoting diversity among public relations professionals and companies so that they can best serve the public and address the needs of a diverse world.

OSU's Bateman team created and implemented a full public relations campaign for the client.  The "Strength in Differences" campaign that promoted diversity and inclusion in the public relations field was comprised of five junior and senior strategic communications students:  Alexandria Mangold, Jacey Gellasch, Jean Chaplin, Maria Mancera and LeAnn Wilson.

"The campaign was tremendously beneficial to my educational experience here at OSU," Gellasch said.  "I was able to work in a team setting and gain real-world experience with this campaign."

During the "Strength in Differences" campaign, the Bateman Team held many events such as the first annual Public Relations Day, an Oklahoma City public relations agency site visit and a PRSSA meeting.  Each event was centered around the topic of diversity and designed to educate OSU students about the lack of diversity in the field and how they can better incorporate it into their professional lives.

"The Bateman Team has done great with this campaign," faculty adviser Skye cooley said.  "Not only were they tasked with creating a cohesive campaign for the client, but they were also tasked with growing OSU's PRSSA chapter."

See more from OSU's PRSSA chapter on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.