Dr.

Horvath, President
News Conference Script
Hello everyone and welcome! I am extremely excited to be speaking with you today. It is
because of these incredibly hardworking and devoted students that we are here today: they are
the people who put all of this together. This group of public relations students are in the midst of
their capstone experience, PR Campaigns, where they will participate in the Community Partners
Program, developing public relations plans for local nonprofit organizations.
The Community Partners Program is the type of thing we encourage here at SUNY Fredonia.
Since 2001, the course has provided students with innovative teaching styles that will foster a
lifetime of knowledge and experience. It provides hand-on experience while promoting
community engagement in a challenging way. However, these students have had a very rigorous
curriculum to prepare them for the project. It is because of their coursework and training that
their professor, Ann Carden, and I stand behind the work these students are doing. They truly are
becoming experts in their field.
The project requires students to divide into groups, each acting as a public relations firm that
works to a develop a comprehensive public relations plan for their local client." These plans
include conducting research on these nonprofits to develop relevant goals, objectives, strategies,
tactics and creative materials based on their findings. The students will work hand-in-hand with
their assigned organization over the course of the semester to learn their wants, interests and
needs, addressing them in their plans.
As I mentioned, the Community Partners Program allows SUNY Fredonia students to learn more
about the public relations profession while engaging with the local community. That is why this
has been an increasingly popular program throughout Chautauqua County. Not only are we
building positive relationships between the community and our students, but we are fostering the
social, cultural, artistic, intellectual, and economic growth of the organizations with which we
work. This year the Community Partners Program has reached new heights with a record number
of applicants hoping to collaborate with the students of the largest capstone group this program
has seen. Of the 16 organizations to apply, the class of over 40 students chose only two.
These students are gaining invaluable experience that will benefit them in the future while their
nonprofit partners are also given a fresh perspective on issues facing the organization. This group
has the ability to look at organizations and their problems in a way the organizations may not be
able to do themselves. Because of their intensive and up-to-date public relations education, these
students have the tools to create groundbreaking, and potentially game-changing, public relations
plans that pave the way for the companies to reach their professional goals.

With all of that being said, I am proud to announce that Greystone Nature Preserve and
Chautauqua Rails to Trails are this years participants in the Community Partners Program. Both
of these nonprofits are great organizations that aim to preserve and maintain the pure beauty of
Chautauqua County. Greystone and Rails to Trails make this year a special year because in
addition to helping these two organizations grow, the students actually have the chance to help
preserve and protect some of the most majestic landscapes in the county.
Now, Im going to hand it over to the representatives from these two great nonprofits to discuss
their organizations reasons for applying to the Community Partners Program and what they hope
to gain from the experience. First, I am happy to introduce Jeremy Woolson of Greystone Nature
Preserve.