Meeting Face-to-Face Is Always a Better Option

It has now officially been three full weeks since school has started and my campaign is well on its way, with my goal of reaching 1,000 students always on my mind. Recently I have become a professional at e-mailing, following up, and ultimately meeting with teachers, student leaders, and administrators who can help further my campaign. Among these meetings, the biggest ones I have had so far have been with John Herbst, the Student Services Director for the entire campus. He overseees every activity and event that goes on at our Universtity and turns down several potential presenters due to lack of need or interest. Once I sat down and spoke with him he was thrilled to see that I am taking initiative to better the student body and teach them essential money management advice on a peer-to-peer level. He told me he would love to endorse the program on video but he likes to remain behind-the-scenes. However, he helped me alot with making sure the right people were hearing and getting his approval of my campaign.

Other big administrators I have spoken with are the Director of New Student and Parent Programs, the Director of Alcohol and Wellness Programs, the Residence Life Director, and the Student Body President. The Student Body President, Ryan Smith, is now enrolled in graduate school working toward getting his MBA. He is very successful, ahcievement-oriented, and very funny to sit down and talk to. I really enjoyed meeting him and getting a video endorsement from him since so many students can relate to him and associate themselves better with a student leader.

Directly below I have posted a video from Ryan explaining why he feels "Are You Credit Wise" is a very benefecial program for the University of Kentucky:

My Current Meeting Updates

Wow, it sure has been a great past couple of weeks as far as my meetings have been moving along. Last week I met with Jared Tippets, the Director of New Student Programs, and he helped me out so much more than I could imagine. First off, I was thrilled about how excited he was after I went over my presentation and the key points I wanted to get across to students. He was grateful that a student was finally taking the initiative to talk amongst their peers about financial literacy besides the adult groups, such as the Federal Credit Union.

He knew the students would be much more willing to listen to me instead, so he agreed to send out a mass e-mail to every UK 101 instructor encouraging  them to have their students attend my presentations as part of  the class curriculum. I also followed up with some of them giving them a personal e-mail from me as well. Once I have a room reserved for several dates and times in September/October, he is going to let the teachers know and I am going to make flyers advertising them as well. He also informed me that this year the Resident Life Staff is making the RAs have their residents attend five presentations on campus. I am going to try everything I can to be a part of that requirement.

Also, Jared is very close with other Administators and Directors on campus and gave me a list of the main contacts for Residence Life, Athletics, the University Health Service Directors, and the Alcohol and Health Education Department Office.I already set up a meeting with Andrew Smith, the Director of Alcohol and Health Education, and he seemed very excited to talk to me about a possible partnership.

I am super excited and ready to make progress and really get involved as much as I can on campus. I'll be sure to keep you posted with everything that happens in the next week!

-GO CATS