Students collaborate with Ford to share inspiring stories

Students from Grand Valley State University’s School of Communications are getting hands-on advertising and public relations experience working with Ford Motor Company through a storytelling competition.

The project is a competition between Grand Valley, Calvin College and Compass College for Cinematic Arts in which students must develop and produce online videos showcasing inspirational stories about people or organizations in Michigan.

Lindsey VanDenBoom, advertising and public relations major, said that while the different groups have free range to explore stories in any area of Michigan, Grand Valley’s team wanted to keep their stories as local as possible.

“One of the stories is about Archangel Ancient Tree Archive founded by David Milarch,” said VanDenBoom. “It’s an organization dedicated to cloning the world’s largest and most iconic trees in order to replace the natural filter system of our water and air to fight global warming caused by climate change. Today, AATA has established living archives containing hundreds of vital trees in Michigan.”

As a student, VanDenBoom said she didn’t hesitate to agree to work with her fellow students and Ford on this project.

“I am a huge supporter of getting involved outside of course work and applying your knowledge to external activities,” said VanDenBoom. “From the beginning I was prepared to work hard, give my personal best and, in the end, walk away with a better understanding of the advertising and communications process.”

Frank Blossom, affiliate professor of advertising and public relations at Grand Valley, is guiding students throughout the creation and distribution of these videos.

Grand Valley’s video will be posted on YouTube where “public voting” will take place through December 8. The total number of video views will determine the winner.

To watch Grand Valley’s contest entries, visit http://youtu.be/kfcXRmKr2f8.

For more information, contact Frank Blossom at [email protected].