By: Jillian Halsey
Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience. You need to gain experience to gain wisdom.
Albert Einstein
Inspired Strategies Agency (ISA) is a student-run communication agency at Olivet Nazarene University (ONU). The agency serves as an opportunity to allow students to apply the skills that they learned in the classroom to organizations, businesses and on-campus entities. It also helps to enhance students’ leadership, personal and professional skills.
The AS4U Career Center states that for students in any program, experience is often the one thing they are lacking. They may get A’s on every assignment and test, but in a real work environment, the classwork does not compensate for hands-on experience.
Jillienne Roe has been a part of ISA since she transferred to ONU in the Spring of 2020. She has served as a Junior Account Executive (JAE), Associate Account Executive (AAE), Account Executive (AE) and Agency Director. She is currently serving as the Agency Director, where she is in charge of guiding, training and directing all the staff members in the agency. Roe is also part of Public Relations Student Society of America.
“My favorite position that I served in would have to be Agency Director. I absolutely love and am passionate about serving the Lord by developing people personally, professionally, academically and spiritually.”
Jillienne Roe
During her time in ISA, Roe has worked for CSL Behring one semester and the Olivet Nazarene University’s Communication Department for two semesters.
Roe encourages all communication students to get involved with ISA. The agency serves as an opportunity to put all of the experience that they have gained in the classroom and apply it to real client work. Roe says it is also an opportunity to get more experience working in a team, agency and with a variety of clients.
All of the experience that students gain through ISA helps them to develop greater understanding in the classroom and stand out to employers. According to an article published by IDEA, getting real-life experience allows content that students learn in the classroom to be more easily understood.
ISA also provides a chance for students to determine whether or not the agency life is for them. Each semester, ISA is invited to tour a public relations firm in Chicago. This year Roe and the rest of the ISA staff had an agency tour at Public Communications Inc. (PCI) in Chicago.
We had a chance to talk to the agency CEO, who was impressed by the oppurtunity to be a part of a student-run agency and encouraged students to take full advantage of it.
Jillienne Roe
Roe has gained lots of experience and memories throughout her time at ISA.
Throughout the semesters, the agency has changed and adapted with each new Agency Director. Roe has lots of ideas for how she would like to further develop and grow ISA under her leadership.
If we are going to grow our clienttell then we need to start implementing what we do for our clients for ourselves by upgrading our website, creating branding models, marketing and using social media.
Jillienne Roe
Roe’s vision for ISA under her leadership is to create and manage a cash flow in ISA and have roll-over accounts. This would allow ISA to have the money to pay for community events, revamp the ISA website, buy a professional Canva profile and tour agencies.
Overall, you should fully dive into ISA and take advantage of every oppurtunity that the Communication Department provides. This is really a time in our lives where we need to try new things and apply our skills in order to be ready for the next step, which is going into the work force.
Jillienne ROe
