"Your Insurance Agent Did What?"

In August, my boyfriend and I drove about 3,500 miles cross-country from Connecticut to California. Some of you may have read my tweets about the trip with the hashtag, #MBgo2CA. Besides going to college in Burlington, Vermont, I'd never moved before, especially not across the country. Luckily, fellow Champlain alumna, Grace Boyle, has a lot of experience in that area and I followed her blog posts about relocating closely.

Preparing to relocate is a momentous task, and one of the things you have to do is secure new insurance, in my case, auto and renter's insurance. In July, one of those catchy State Farm commercials, "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there," (now you're all singing that little rhyme in your head - I apologize), prompted me to try out their online form for a car insurance quote. Why not? We all know and love how online forms work, so I didn't have all the information in front of me at that time and didn't complete the form.

Later the same day, I received a personalized and friendly email from Steve at Heather Copeland's State Farm in Davis. Smart how they have you put your contact information in right away on that form! He noticed that I hadn't finished it and wanted to help me get a quote. He even put a smiley face in at the end of his email. So, I gave him a call.

Now read closely, this is the important lesson of the day...

We did the usual inputting of the vehicle information to get my quote, and he even said that I would get renter's insurance and a discount for having both on my plan. The crucial component to this conversation was that Steve asked me why I was moving to Davis. I explained to him that I had recently graduated with a degree in PR and had been looking for work in Davis prior to my move.

He prompted me to check out a PR firm where his friend worked, one that I hadn't seen in search results in Google. Steve even went the extra mile to get in touch with her and called me back saying "Send your resume over!" This I promptly did, including a personalized cover letter after doing some more research about the firm.

This little act of my insurance agent getting to know me ended up leading to an informational interview, an interview, and finally to a paid internship which I start next week. Pretty nifty, huh? So, if you're moving to California where the unemployment rate is 12% and people think you're crazy for moving here, or even if you're not moving, you've got to go back to the basics: network, network, network - even with your insurance agent.

Thanks, Steve! :)

Authentic German Beer Brews up Business at the Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit Vermont's newest brewery at the Trapp Family Lodge which just celebrated its grand opening this past weekend. These photos highlight our trip to one of Vermont's historical places which has a European connection.

First, we got a tour of the brewery from the brew master, Allen Van Anda, who was kind enough to show us each part of the brewing process at the Trapp Family Lodge. We were impressed because it's just him doing all the brewing!

Though I would highly recommend a trip to Stowe to get the full experience, you can try the new Lager on tap at other venues in Vermont. The Trapp Lager is currently being distributed to 26 Vermont bars and restaurants according to the Burlington Free Press blog post, including The Daily Planet and American Flatbread in Burlington according to Allen.

You can enjoy the view of the Vermont mountains with your brew - just $5 per .5 liter.
Pictured here is their Vienna Lager which tastes "Just like a classic beer in Vienna" according to a student who studied abroad in Vienna last spring. Their Dunkle, which is a German-style dark beer is also pictured and tasted just as delicious. We couldn't decide which one we liked better!

Be sure to check out the brewery at the Trapp Family Lodge and enjoy a local brew which has the authentic taste of a Vienna Lager!

Special thanks to Allen for giving us a great tour, even after a VERY busy opening weekend.

Prost!

Tweeting Takes Over #Campchamp | Written for the Champlain Current

Tweeting Takes Over #Campchamp

By Marissa Bentivoglio

Whether it's an assignment for a media communications course, to advocate for a club on-campus, to locate a job, or just to complain about the internet at Spinner Place, students, faculty and staff at Champlain, or #campchamp as it is known to the Twitterverse, are flocking to Twitter to connect, share, learn and gripe.

PC Mag, an online magazine focusing on e-business, defines Twitter as, "A very popular instant messaging system that lets a person send brief text messages up to 140 characters in length to a list of followers. Launched in 2006, Twitter was designed as a social network to keep friends and colleagues informed throughout the day. However, it became widely used for commercial and political purposes to keep customers, constituents and fans up-to-date as well as to solicit feedback…Twitter messages ("tweets") can be made public and sent to anyone requesting the feed, or they can be sent only to approved followers" (http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Twitter&i=57880,00.asp).

The typical Champlain student's exposure to Twitter most likely began with Elaine Young's internet marketing course. "I started playing with [Twitter] in March of 2007, and talking about it in class a little during Fall 2007. Then Spring 2008 I started doing more with it. Fall 2008 was the big push," said Young, Assistant Dean of Business as well as a business professor. As part of Champlain's hands-on philosophy, Elaine has her students dive right into the new technology, even if some people are hesitant.

That was then, now many media classes including Rob Williams' Contemporary Media Issues courses (also known as #MCM315 on Twitter) are tweeting about what they're reading, links to their assignments on their blogs, and submitting questions to the professor. Young's senior level marketing students are graded on their "live-tweeting" efforts which require students to summarize the content of a presentation and send tweets throughout the duration. The point of this "live-tweeting" is so that people who are reading and following the feed on twitter can benefit from the presentation without being physically present.

What started with a class assignment has lead to job opportunities for some ambitious individuals. '08 Champlain graduate Grace Boyle, who majored in Public Relations, is the college's case study for using social media to land a job after graduation. Boyle wanted to pursue a position in Boulder, Colorado after Champlain and did so with the power of networking via social media (and a lot of hard work!). She works for Lijit, a start-up in Boulder. "Your Twitter profile is like your resume - it's where your ideas, thoughts, interests, profession and network resides. The power of Twitter shouldn't be overlooked," commented Boyle.

Current students are also making use of Twitter by tweeting what's good in the dining hall, or what clubs are having meetings and where they are located. The Environmental Club, Student Government Association, Ski and Ride Club, LEAD, and other organizations on campus have a twitter account that the various representatives update about activities happening on campus. Students can "follow" librarians at Miller Information Commons (@champlib) whose account is run by Andy Burkhardt, Emerging Technologies Librarian and Sarah Cohen, Information Literacy Librarian. Besides answering students' questions, they will often will tweet pictures of the view of Lake Champlain from MIC's third floor vantage point.

Besides the Champlain community of #campchamp is the greater Burlington community or #btv. This hash tag provides information about what is going on around the city of Burlington. Many local eateries such as Handy's Lunch, August First, New Moon and many others will tweet what their specials of the day are. Most recently Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's was a topic of discussion using the #btv hash tag.

The school is also finding many ways to promote Champlain on Twitter. The Office of Admission has a twitter account @champlainedu while Public Information Officer Stephen Mease uses Twitter to get the word out about Champlain College (@Champlaincolleg) by linking press releases to tweets and "re-tweeting" or quoting what students on twitter are saying about Champlain. What's a better way to get the true feel of a college than directly from the students themselves?

Twitter is a technology people can use to crowd source information. Students, faculty and staff on Twitter were asked to comment on the #campchamp community using the hashtag #CCcurrent. Here's what they had to say:

The responses are generated here: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23CCcurrent.

Looking for Opportunities in PR and/or HR

I was honored to be included today in a blog post with 25 other PR students on PR at Sunrise written by Andrew Worob. This post labeled us as "Future PR Stars," and I am so impressed by the students who are on there.

Throughout the day, PR professionals have been reaching out offering their support which I am very grateful for! I decided it would be best to write a post detailing what I am looking for post-graduation.

First, a little (more) about me:

I will be receiving a Bachelor's degree in Public Relations from Champlain College on May 8, however I am also highly interested in Human Resources to the point where I am a student member of SHRM and planning on taking the exam to be a Human Resource Manager this summer. My internship at Lake Champlain Chocolates, located in Burlington, VT, has accommodated both my interests in HR and PR allowing me to intern in both departments. I have been actively assisting with HR at a small geriatric care management company called Growing Options since 2008, helping with hiring, creating job descriptions, etc. I won't go into too many details to keep this post succinct, but if you'd like to view my online resume you can visit it on LinkedIn.

Searching for opportunities:
I'm looking for a position where I can utilize both my PR and HR skills. The locations I'm most interested in for opportunities are:

• Fairfield/New Haven County, Connecticut

• Sacramento/Davis area, California

• Dublin, Ireland (where I studied abroad last Spring)

Thank you for your attention...and I am looking forward to starting a tumblr based on my combined interests shortly. Stay tuned...!

Valentine's Day: Spreading the love!

The past few years on Valentine's Day, I've had a tradition of handing out hand-made valentines to everyone I come in contact with. It's nice for everyone to feel appreciated, and I think Valentine's Day is about reminding the people in your life that you care about them. The idea of passing out valentines shouldn't end in elementary school, so continue the tradition and make someone's day!

A Valentine's Day two years ago, I wasn't going to be able to physically hand out my valentines to everyone, so when I was done cutting them, I laid them out on a desk and took a photo. I posted it on Facebook where I tagged everyone I couldn't see that day in the picture so they felt like they received a valentine. I just wanted them to know I was thinking of them.

This year, I am interning in a chocolate factory. This is awesome for many reasons, but now I can be more adventurous in personalizing my valentines. I want to include a chocolate heart with each valentine (If only this delicious treat would transfer well through Facebook!), and since this year I do have a significant other to worry about, I wanted to do something special for him.


Lake Champlain Chocolates' Retail Manager, Emily, decorates each of these hearts by hand with a personal message at the factory store in Burlington, Vermont. This year alone, she has over 160 requests of personalized messages to transcribe onto these dark chocolate, raspberry truffle-filled hearts called "Heart Throbs!" I put my order in early, and I decided to write a message to my boyfriend in German because he studied in Vienna for a semester where he spoke German.

Just wanted to offer a few pointers on how to make the holiday a little more enjoyable, personal and fun. If anything, get a box of chocolates, go skiing or riding, or watch a movie with a friend and enjoy yourself. You deserve it!

What's something special or fun you've done on Valentine's Day to differentiate yourself?