By 
By: CHRISTINA CLARK
Staff Writer
clark66@umail.iu.edu
The IU South Bend Advertising and Marketing Clubs took the trip of a lifetime this spring.
“I had never been to New York, so it was definitely a wonderful experience,” said senior Lindsey Rodino, who will graduate in May with a double major in marketing and advertising.
Rodino was one of the 16 members of IU South Bend’s Marketing and Advertising Club that took to New York City for the Mosaic Career Fair and Conference, put on by the American Advertising Federation (AAF).
The club spent four days in the Big Apple to learn, network, connect and explore. Sometimes the best education is leaving town.
“The main purpose of the trip was to visit the Mosaic Career Fair and Conference. We got to participate in career development workshops where we could go through practice mock interviews, have our resumes and portfolios looked at and critiqued…” said Rodino.
There was more to the trip than education and exposure, though, Rodino said. “After the conference, we had the actual career fair to attend where we could meet other, various ad companies at the event, [which gave] us a chance to make good impressions, and possibly land interviews or—even better—leads on jobs.”
“There were many terrific employers at the conference,” said Paige Ullery, Advertising Club president. “One of the people we were most excited to hear from was Carter Murray, the CEO of FCB, a man who inspired me to join the advertising field after a mentor told him some day he ‘would become a CEO.”
Ullery continued, “New York is a special place that not many of the club members had seen before. Having such a profound impact…on our future careers, it was an important place to visit.”
The trip wasn’t all business, however. The students were able to sight-see as well. Visiting the 9/11 Memorial, Little Italy, Rockefeller Plaza, Central Park, The Charging Bull on Wall Street, Grand Central Station as well as Times Square, were all part of many of the students’ itineraries.
“It was breathtaking and eye-opening to say the least,” Rodino said of the 9/11 Memorial. “Anyone that plans to go there should definitely make that a priority. Only seven of us went into the actual memorial. We were there for two and a half hours and didn’t come close to finishing it. It would have taken another two hours to finish. So worth the time, wait, and money to see it.”
The clubs’ fundraisers throughout the fall semester paid for many of the expenses, including travel, the conference and accommodations.
“It was awesome—the fact that I was able to say ‘Yes, my classmates and I raised enough money for 16 of us to go to New York City to gain knowledge for our future careers as well as see the city,” Rodino said. “I hope future club members are able to attend the same conference and gain as much knowledge as we did.”
Ullery and Linton also think that the experience was career changing and important exposure to grow their future careers.
“There are so many people to see and meet in all parts of the country, let alone the world, that we would not be as competitive of candidates had we not met or seen the people during that trip. We believe we can speak for the entire group and say that each of us grew as a student, professional and simply as a person,” they agreed.
