Work and stay in N.H.

Only 50 percent of graduating seniors will stay in New Hampshire after completing college in the state, creating a big problem for the economy. Matt Cookson, Associate Vice Chancellor for External Relations at the University System of New Hampshire, wants to fix this problem with his Fifty-Five Percent Initiative that will bump up the odds for New Hampshire. Cookson loves the Granite State and wants a younger generation to love it too. But he finds that future graduates do not know about the available jobs, so businesses complain about their lack of employees. Cookson and the Chancellor created the Fifty-Five Percent Initiative which is eventually going to be a “tourism-like marketing campaign” to get graduates to work, stay and play in New Hampshire, “I want these new grads to take a second look at the state and not base their decisions on perceptions that may no longer be true,” Cookson said. The project in Manchester and now it has spread to a few Universities and many other businesses and organizations. Cookson was both overwhelmed and pleased with all of the positive responses and feedback. Students from Plymouth State, Keene State and University of New Hampshire are joining forces to oversee this marketing campaign. This semester, the professors’ of these schools have agreed to put most of their focus on the Fifty-Five Percent Initiative.Plymouth students in an advertising course with Professor Eileen Bennett are currently generating a new survey to distribute to about 30 different classes. They think it is now more relatable to the participants than the old one and they are assuming the results will be much more conclusive. Each class had to have more than 20 students in it and had to be mostly made up of juniors and seniors. They are hoping to get about 800 responses and will use the information to produce the new campaign for the Fifty-Five Percent Initiative. “We are trying to find out why so many grads are leaving New Hampshire and we will use that information to try to figure out ways to make students stay here,” said Lindsay Walbridge, a student in Bennett’s marketing course. She is looking forward to getting back the research results and helping out Cookson and his cause.Cookson has high hopes for the students helping him with this project, “I’m learning what they look for in the next phases of life and I’m able to tell them some things they did not know about the state,” he said. He is not trying to convince them to stay here –he is just letting them know about the best attributes of New Hampshire and all it has to offer them. Cookson is also looking forward to the students’ research results and cannot wait to hear about their ideas for the future marketing campaign. To get involved and learn more about the Fifty-Five Percent Initiative go to Usnh.edu and click on the appropriate link.