Bateman Team: Accessing the Future
In-photo: (Left) Isabela Zuniga, Valerie Perez, Jakki Padilla and Makenzy Bowen
Long Beach State University students competing in the largest competition for PR students.
What is The Competition?
If you haven’t already heard about this cross country competition, then you’re truly missing out. However, I’m here to introduce you to one of the most fulfilling and challenging PR opportunities our school has to offer. Established in 1973, under the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the challenge pushes students to research, plan, implement and evaluate a real-life campaign. The best part? The teams work for a real company, this year being ACCESS Newswire, to gain real experience.
Who We Are?
When I first came across this opportunity, I wasn’t entirely sure what the competition consisted of. It wasn’t until the Bateman Team faculty advisor, and real time public relations professional, Krista Coriaty explained the true reach of the team that I understood this was a challenge I needed to be a part of.
As the last addition to our four-man team, I was ecstatic to meet my fellow teammates, who were undoubtedly brave enough to add this task on top of their bustling schedules. My team members: Director of Research and Writing Jakki Padilla, Director of Creative and Outreach Assistant Valerie Perez and Director of Outreach and Research Assistant Isabela Zuniga, make my role as Team Lead and Director of Writing easy. Though the Bateman team usually consists of five, our group of four has collectively agreed to go above and beyond to fill the gap.
The Campaign
Our client, ACCESS Newswire, is bringing about a new educational program to aspiring public relations and mass media professionals. The company, which gives students the ability to write press releases, construct media lists and track media at an affordable price, is investing in the future generation.
In our attempt to encompass the true investment of this company, we wanted to highlight their commitment to educators and students alike. Originally, when Isabela Zuniga mentioned a carrier pigeon during our team name discussion, she laughed it off. It wasn’t until the entire group reinforced her idea with their own play on the motif that we solidified our campaign name.
On The Wire signifies our intent to help ACCESS Newswire thrust the next generation of students into the public relations field with the most knowledge possible. Connecting the past, carrier pigeons slowly delivering messages, to the future, public relations professionals being able to share information with the click of a button, is the entire goal of our team. Therefore, our slogan, Access to the Future, speaks for itself.
Our Process
The timeline for this competition is unlike traditional campaigns. Having solidified the team in early November of the previous semester, our team worked throughout winter break to gather a supportive amount of research. We heavily focused on student, professor, professional surveys, interviews and focus groups.
This undoubtedly laid the foundation for the next two phases, planning and implementation. From countless zooms, in-person meetings, to invaluable advice from our professional advisor Shani Crooks and faculty advisor Krista Coriaty, we have put everything we have into the tactics of our campaign. Though implementation is yet to come, a staggeringly short amount of time, only spanning between Feb. 2 - March 2, we are ecstatic to see our ideas come to life.
Our Events
In the coming month, we plan to leave no opportunity unexplored. From our Demo Days, where we demonstrate how to easily navigate ACCESS Newswire for classrooms like CSULB’s Azul PR Agency, to my personal favorite, the press release writing competition, we plan to maximize our engagement. To stay updated on the dates and deadlines of the aforementioned events, and others like our professional mixer and podcast, here's our website and social media accounts.
What We Hope to Achieve
There is no question that our end goal is to cultivate the most successful campaign in the name of ACCESS Newswire. We want nothing more than to have successful events, with inspiring insight and maximum outreach.
However, this competition is more than just winning. As a group, we are not only putting our best foot forward as students committed to the challenge, but also individuals looking to evolve into the best version of ourselves. Our skills, including researching, writing, analyzing, brainstorming and media creation, as public relations professionals has already increased tenfold with the demands of this team.
Keep this in mind, come Fall 2026. When Krista Coriaty goes looking for willing participants in this annual competition, just know that you will be pushed and forced to evolve not only as a person, but as a practitioner in this field.
Conclusion
Though we have a long way to go, we are already so proud of all that we accomplished. Some day soon, we hope to be in New York telling the story of our campaign to the best and brightest in the public relations field. Even though we are asking for the support of our fellow peers and educators during this time, we also hope to encourage future students to participate in this beneficial competition.
