On Sunday, Nov. 23, students in Julianne Michalenko’s business and professional communications course will team up with the Heritage Valley Health System to present “An Evening of Holiday Shopping” at The Mall at Robinson. For a $5 ticket, patrons can shop at the mall after hours and enjoy a host of family-friendly activities.

RMU students have worked since classes started in the fall to pull off the event, which benefits HVHS Community Health Services. Michalenko, a communications skills lecturer, received a $2,000 grant to support the project from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Network for Growth in Service Learning. Ann Jabro, university professor of communication, received a similar grant for her foundations in public relations and research course.

Both courses allow students to put their classroom lessons to work immediately in the real world. “You get hands-on experience. It’s not just reading a textbook,” said junior Nathan Ekis, a communications major enrolled in Jabro’s course. 

Students plan every aspect of the holiday shopping event, including promotions, sponsorships, media coverage and kids’ activities. Michalenko’s course is required of all RMU students.

"In most classes I use case studies as a basis for assignments. But in this class, students are working on a real project. Their experiences become our case study,” said Michalenko. 

Michalenko said that students completed the equivalent of nine textbook chapters in the first six weeks of the course, a much faster pace than in a conventional course. Under the terms of her grant, Michalenko’s students have to complete at least 15 hours of community service, a tally they exceeded by October.  

The students have worked closely with Dan Murphy, vice president for institutional advancement at Heritage Valley. The hospital system’s Community Health Services provides health programs to treat and prevent chronic illnesses. Services include diabetes management, pediatric asthma care and pregnancy health programs. 

“Working with the students in Julie Michalenko’s class has been a rewarding and enjoyable experience for me and my colleagues. We’ve watched them get excited by the project, and they have worked exceptionally well in our committee meetings and behind the scenes with the practical application of their classroom work,” said Murphy. 

Students in Jabro’s course have partnered with the Coraopolis Community Development Foundation to explore how Coraopolis can build stronger ties with RMU. The students organized themselves like a public relations agency, with account executives and teams for research, promotions, and media relations. Their project, “Seeing Tomorrow Together,” surveys Coraopolis residents and business and community leaders, as well as RMU students, faculty and staff to gauge how people think the two communities can serve one another and what dining, recreation, entertainment and social services are desired by  populations.  

Coraopolis has never capitalized on its proximity to RMU, so the students’ research aims to give them the tools to do so. “The goal is to bring a community of local interests together,” said Jabro.

Students also are working with restaurant owners to plan a “Coraopolis Cuisine” event on Dec. 8 where Coraopolis restaurateurs will offer specials on select menu items. That same night, the students plan to present the results of their research, and their recommendations, at a community meeting at Cornell High School at 6:30 p.m. 

Coraopolis merchants have donated numerous prizes to people who participate in the students’ focus groups and surveys. The students recently presented an overview of their project to the Coraopolis Borough Council last week and were thrilled that so many community residents were supportive of their effort and offered immediate contributions for the research effort. 

The Rev. Sam Jampetro, who leads the Coraopolis Community Development Foundation, said that RMU students have long been active in Coraopolis, volunteering as tutors or helping with other community service projects.

“Students and young people bring passion and vision and renewed energy, and because RMU draws students from all over the world, it opens the vision for the people in Coraopolis,” said Jampetro.

“RMU has been incredibly supportive of our foundation and what we are trying to do for the community. We are incredibly thankful for that,” he said.