Samantha Latos

News Editor

slatos@plymouth.edu

From April 4th to 8th, the Mar- keting Associations of Plymouth State attended the 40th annual international collegiate American marketing association conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Jennifer Santucci, President of MAPS, is proud of the successful results. “MAPS came home as a top 10 chapter out of over 400 colleges and universities, brought home 6th place in SABRE and spoke about Student Run Marketing Firms,” she said.

SABRE stands for Strategic Allocation of Business Resources. “It provides the competitive environment which immerses the participants in a dynamic competitive situation,” Jennifer said, “Teams may add and withdraw products from the mar- ketplace as well as advertise, price, distribute and design those products to best fit varying market segments.” This competition helps marketing students comprehend how to strategize their use of resources in an active business setting.

This annual conference features competitions between colleges from all over the country. “Chapters compete each year across the key functional areas of membership, fundraising, professional development, community and social impact, communications, chapter operations, and budget,” she said. The categorized branches of marketing are beneficial to students varying interests.

The conference helps marketing students apply and enhance their skills, and make new ones along the way. Adrianna Cudia, Professional Development of MAPS, believes that the group gained experience that will carry into their future successes. “We gained networking skills as well as resume building, and marketing yourself as an individual to stand out against other potential employees, and we will be able to use this experience to talk about in interviews,” she said. These skills will benefit the members of MAPS by increasing their chances of potential career placement.

MAPS sets out goals for themselves as a club, that are reached through dedication. Their biggest success story, according to Adrianna, was no small feat. “For the past two years, '16 and ‘17, MAPS was ranked a top 25 chapter among the over 350 universities and our biggest goal, stated in our chapter plan for the 2017-18 year, was to move up to a top 10 chapter,” she said, “We accomplished that goal and are so proud!”

The process for the competition has been ongoing since the start of the academic year. “Two key documents are submitted for review starting with a chapter plan that is submitted in October, essentially laying out what the goals are for the year, and then in March the annual report which shows what was accomplished,” Jennifer said, “The goals and results are tracked and the stories of the chapters various activities are judged by a panel of 20 faculty nationally.” MAPS diligent plan for success contributed to their success during the conference.

MAPS has grown as a group through these competitions. “Three years ago MAPS came in 29th for the SABRE competition, in 2017 they came in 3rd, last year we came in 1st, and this year 6th,” Adrianna said, “We are learning how to teach each other and work together as a team instead of just having one person delegating tasks to a group.” The conference offers both academic and social skills.

MAPS has more plans for success for this semester and next fall. “Some projects that we are working on for the remainder of the year are Chili Cook-O on April 21st, and a new event for homecoming weekend called Backyard Olympics,” Jennifer said.

All majors are welcomed to join MAPS. They meet every Tuesday at 8pm in the Merrill Place conference room. Students are encouraged to stop by, or email Brianna Melendez, Vice President of Membership, at bamelendez@plymouth.edu.