Feature
Martin Hall Agency
For many advertising and public relations students, MHA is the springboard for their careers.
WRITTEN BY ERICA LINDSAYThis is not your typical first day of class. Instead of the quiet that comes with first-day jitters, the room is buzzing. There are hugs, fist bumps and handshakes as Dr. P and Prof. B. get their “hellos” in before 2:30 p.m. rolls around. Of the 27 students in this Martin Hall Agency (MHA) course, more than half have already taken a version of it before and are now back for more.
Geah Pressgrove, associate professor and Advertising and Public Relations program chair, officially kicks things off.
“Hey y’all!”
A half-hearted response is barely heard over the chatter of students catching up after summer break.
“Let’s try this again. Hey y’all!”
Now there’s a resounding “Heyyyy!” from this unique combination of seniors enrolled in the MHA capstone and underclassmen who’ve signed up for either the advertising or the public relations tactics course — three separate courses wrapped into one meeting time with two faculty to operate one of West Virginia’s largest advertising and public relations agencies.
Students occupy nearly every seat in the Alexis and Jim Pugh Innovation Lab on the second floor of Martin Hall. There’s a 20 long table down the middle of the room and three additional pods of seating along the side. The room, like the course enrollment, is at max capacity. This popularity can be attributed to both the firsthand agency experience students get in the course and the fact that many students land internships after MHA, which often lead to full-time employment.
“Before we get started, a few of us have news to share,” Pressgrove says. “Max, I’m going to start with you.”
Senior Max Russell looks around before realizing Pressgrove is calling on him. Russell was one of just 11 students in the nation to be selected as a 2022 Stickell Honors Intern and spent his summer with Caterpillar, a Fortune 100 company, where he worked on branding with the Oil and Gas Division’s marketing team. He announces to the class that he’s been offered a full-time position with Caterpillar upon graduation in May.
Two other students make announcements of internships that segued to full-time job offers thanks, in part, to the connections of Pressgrove and co-instructor Chuck Borghese, the Harrison Omnicom Visiting Professor in Advertising. Pressgrove is a self-described “little boutique firm girl” who worked in Columbia, South Carolina, before pursuing her doctorate and embarking on a life in higher education. Borghese began his career as a copywriter in New York City and progressed through the “biz,” landing gigs as creative director for a few large firms, including DDB and most recently, Merkley + Partners.
“I love this business,” Borghese tells the students. “I’ve been in it for 40 years. It’s work, but it’s not work. I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life.”
I love this business. I’ve been in it for 40 years. It’s work, but it’s not work. I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life.” CHUCK BORGHESE
Stosic was the account director for the Humans of Morgantown campaign in the spring
2022 Martin Hall Agency course.
MHA Flashbacks
Jordan Stosic (BSJ, 2022) can relate to that sentiment. He spent two semesters
with MHA, first in the tactics course and then as a capstone student, working
on the “Humans of
Morgantown” campaign, which aimed to raise awareness of and compassion for the local unsheltered population.
“When it comes to being fulfilled, that’s one of the things that I didn’t anticipate,” Stosic said. “I knew it would be fun and I would get to be creative, but we helped give a voice to unshel- tered persons and helped to facilitate interactions that led to compassion from the community. You do the work, and you see the results, but when I think about how it made me feel rather than just how it made me think ... that’s the powerful stuff.”
You do the work, and you see the results, but when I think about how it made me feel rather than just how it made me think … that’s the powerful stuff.” JORDAN STOSIC
J Stosic grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In high school, he was captain of the men’s volleyball team, captain of the mock trial team, vice president of the international thespian society and he trained with the city’s opera.
“I just liked doing things and staying busy. I was just so spread out that I didn’t even have time to think about college,” Stosic said. “But I picked a public relations elective in my senior year and honestly loved it. I was like ‘wow, I can use these skills and be creative in all the different areas I want to be involved in.’”
This feeling was solidified in his very first Reed College of Media course, Media 101, and he never looked back. After the unfortunate lull of a pandemic year, Stosic jumped right into extracurriculars like the Public Relations Student Society of America, the WVU chapter of the American Advertising Federation and a mentorship program where he provided peer support for underclassmen.Stosic enrolled in the MHA tactics course in the fall of his senior year where he was one of the fresh, new faces in a sea of mostly MHA veterans who were in the capstone section. On his first day of class, the students were briefed on the three project focus areas: First Amendment awareness, poverty and health disparities, and the unsheltered community. He applied for and was assigned to the “unsheltered community” project and was the account director for this team during his capstone semester in the spring.
Throughout the year, Stosic’s team interviewed several members of the unsheltered community, city officials, business owners and other Morgantown residents. They conducted research on factors that lead to homelessness and available resources. They made presentations at Morgantown City Council meetings, designed and produced a traveling exhibit and launched the Humans of Morgantown website, which features a digital exhibit of photos and stories of the unsheltered community.
“During my time as the account director, Dr. Pressgrove really pushed me,” Stosic said. “She gave me a chance to share my ideas and take on a leadership role — directing a team, communicating with clients and doing so many things I had never done before.”
Stosic’s team spent the capstone semester planning and promoting an art exhibit in conjunction with the Friendship House, a mental health drop-in center, called “Neighbors beyond Neighborhoods.” The Friendship House hosts art classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for unsheltered persons. Stosic’s team collected this art and hosted an event open to the public at Morgantown Art Party on Walnut Street.
“We wanted to show people that housing status is not indicative of humanity,” Stosic said. “Someone can be creative, passionate and funny even if they don’t have a residence. Attendees had the opportunity to see the artworks and talk with the artists to realize that maybe their unsheltered neighbors aren’t so different from them.”