Cook restarts PRSSA club

By Elizabeth Butler
Photo Editor

UNCP is restarting the Public Relations Student Society of America, or
what is better known as PRSSA.

“I wanted to join PRSSA but you can’t join unless your school has a
chapter,” President McKenzie Cook said. “We didn’t have a chapter here
and I thought ‘Why not? How hard could it be?’”

A meeting time has still not been chosen.

“We have not really had a set meeting time as of yet, however, for right now we meet mainly once a
month on a Tuesday or Thursday for about an hour,” Cook said.

PRSSA began with only nine chapters back on Nov. 11, 1968. Since then, PRSSA has grown to more
than 20,000 members in 124 chapters in the PR markets of America, which will make UNCP chapter No. 125.

Some chapters in North Carolina are Appalachian State University, Campbell
University, East Carolina University, Elon University, NC State, UNC-Chapel
Hill, UNC-Charlotte and Western Carolina University.

Cook feels that PRSSA is beneficial.

“It’s just a really neat organization,” Cook said. “I really think this is going to
help the Mass Communications Department.”

By joining PRSSA and becoming a member you can then get involved with
your campus’s public relations needs, national programs, get the hands-on experience needed to help
develop you as a professional public relations person, fine tune your leadership skills and become a part
of the educational and networking opportunities that are offered through PRSSA.

Faculty advisors George Harrison and Dr. Anthony Curtis are joining PRSA, which is the parent
organization to PRSSA.

Harrison, who is the faculty advisor for the local chapter of PRSSA, pointed out that networking, tips on
writing, professional development, scholarships and grants and travel are just some of the highlights for
joining PRSSA.

Cook has a lot of personal goals for PRSSA.

“My personal goals are for PRSSA at UNCP to work with other clubs and organizations and to promote a
unity between all the clubs as well as enhance our ever-growing Mass Communications Department. We
have so much going on in the department for other concentrations, and I wanted to be able to do that for
the Public Relations students,” Cook said.

Cook feels that students need to learn about Public Relations outside the classroom.
“This is going to give the students what they don’t learn in class, the hands on stuff,” Cook said.

Harrison is thrilled about PRSSA.

“I feel very excited and pleased that students are expressing an interest
in rejuvenating the chapter,” Harrison said.

The PRSSA mission statement is: “To serve our members by enhancing their knowledge of public relations
and providing access to professional development opportunities.

For more information, contact Cook at Highsteppin81@yahoo.com or george.harrison@uncp.edu.