The National PRSSA Conference, “Ringing in 40 Years of Success,” was held in the spectacular Loews Philadelphia Hotel on October 19-23. Cal State Fullerton had the largest group with 24 members from the west coast.

The conference gave members the opportunity to network with students and professionals across the nation. Various workshops on the different fields of public relations were held everyday. Some favorite speakers from our group were Rich Jernstedt, CMO, EVP and Senior Partner for Fleishman-Hillard; Mia Farrow, Humanitarian/ Actress; Tim Russert, managing editor and moderator of “Meet the Press” and political analyst for “NBC Nightly News” and “Today.”

“Mia Farrow was sensational with her passion and advocacy about the genocide in Africa where she motivated me to take action,” stated Juliet Valdez, PRSSA member.

Besides attending these workshops, our group also participated in the “Create a PR person” project. This participatory aspect of conference was a great way for the 24 members to use theory learned in a classroom and apply it to a real situational project. Furthermore, this project was a team bonding event which enhanced the cohesiveness of the group.

At the last night of conference, Cal State Fullerton was honored at the awards banquet for 2nd place in the national Bateman Competition and awarded The Plank Center Ethics Advocacy Award. “It was amazing to see our chapter receive national recognition where I felt proud to be a PRSSA member from Cal State Fullerton,” expressed Kent Honely-Moore.