Students win at FPRA competition

From Staff | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Flagler College students Jessica Echterling and Bailey Toombs swept the student category at the Jacksonville-area chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association’s 2008 Image Awards.

The Image Awards recognize outstanding local public relations programs and promote the development of professionalism. The student category accepts entries from any college or university in the Northeast Florida area; Echterling and Toombs received the only two student honors at the April 3 awards — the Image Award and the Judges’ Award — for their 5K for United Way campaign.

The students produced the 5K campaign as part of their volunteer work with Dow Advantage Group, a non-profit public relations group run entirely by students.

In early 2007, Toombs and Echterling ran the 5K campaign, securing donations, promoting the event and handling logistics.

“Our project was unique because it was put on solely by students in Dow Advantage and was such a success that United Way chose to make it an annual fundraising event,” Toombs said. “We hope that it will continue to be a positive event for United Way of St. Johns County.”