Marketing students at The University of New Mexico School of Management took second place honors in the second annual American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) Recruitment Challenge held in Houston recently.
UNM competed against Texas A&M University and Lone Star College - Kingwood, the other two top teams that qualified for the finals in Houston. The UNM student team of Mario Armijo, Kyle Biederwolf, Chelsea Chavez, William Calhoun and RyAnne Wallencheck received high marks from a panel of industry experts for their research, communication strategy, and public relations.
Professors John Benavidez and Nick Flor mentored the students throughout the semester-long program that was conducted as part of Anderson’s senior-level digital marketing course. The undergraduate students created and implemented a comprehensive outreach campaign to improve the perception of the fuel and petrochemical industries and to educate their communities about career opportunities within the industries.
“The Anderson School is committed to providing students with transformational learning opportunities that prepare them for career and lifelong success,” said Benavidez. “Through participation in unique education-industry initiatives such as this one, our students are acquiring the hard and soft skills sought after by local and national employers.”
The top team received a scholarship prize of $5,000, second place received $3,000 and $1,000 went to the third place school. The Anderson School marketing program has a history of competing against and beating top-flight colleges and universities in national competitions. In recent years the program has been victorious in competitions sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, Cadillac, Credit Karma and Subaru of America.
Dean Craig White said he is pleased with the effort and hard work this team brought to the competition.
“The continuing success of our marketing teams is a testament to the quality of the faculty and students in the program. We are proud of how well they represent the Anderson School.”
The AFPM Recruitment Challenge was sponsored by AFPM and developed and managed by EdVenture Partners. Student teams developed and implemented original social and digital media content for use by AFPM and its members to increase awareness of the positive benefits of the industries as well as spur recruitment of skilled craft professionals, technical professionals and administrative staff.
For more information and to see the UNM campaign, visit Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.