Bateman Team Competition Begins

Bateman Team members (left to right): Frank Hopper, Danielle Gombac, Lauren Ulrich, Molly Coyle and John Wons

The challenge is on for five Illinois State University PRSSA members and one faculty adviser who are competing in the Bateman Case Study Competition this year.

According to PRSSA’s website, “the Bateman Case Study Competition is PRSSA’s national case study for public relations students. It gives them the chance to apply classroom and internship experience to create and implement a full public relations campaign for a client.” ISU students and PRSSA members Molly Coyle, Danielle Gombac, Frank Hopper, Lauren Ulrich and John Wons, with guidance from School of Communication professor Dr. Rebecca Hayes, will create, implement and evaluate a campaign for the PRSSA client this year.

The client this year is Popmoney, which is a personal payment service from Fiserv. This service is a smartphone app that allows users to send and receive money from their bank account using only a phone number and an email address.

“This is a valuable way to get experience in a competition environment, which is always more fun for the students,” said Dr. Hayes.

The team is competing against many other Bateman teams in the country for the chance to win the first place prize of $2,500 and a trophy.

Ulrich is excited to begin the competition. “After hearing about the opportunities Bateman provides, and the close mentorship we would have with Dr. Hayes, I knew right away that I couldn't pass up this opportunity. I can't wait to get the ball rolling!”

Ulrich’s team member, John Wons, shares the same feelings about having Dr. Hayes as their adviser and mentor for this competition. In addition to having the opportunity to work with Dr. Hayes, Wons said he’s extremely excited to be collaborating with other motivated PR professionals in a team setting.

Gombac chose to be a member of the Bateman team because she wanted to challenge herself in PR and put to use her classroom work plus her past and current internship experiences.  

“I wanted to get a chance to be a part of a team that can strategically put together a campaign for the real world,” said Gombac. “I felt since it's my fourth year in PRSSA I wanted to put everything I learned to good use and be a leader as a member of the Bateman team.”

Dr. Hayes and the team members are excited about the group assembled, and they hope to bring honor and glory to our PRSSA Chapter.

Good luck team!


By Lisa Crocco