Media Kit 

Spring 2018 
  
Contributors: Jordan Specht, Julianna Livelli, Olivia Catena 
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Table of Contents  
   
Table of Contents………………………………………………...…….. 1 
 
Situational Analysis Report………………………………………. 2 
 
Target Audience Research…………………………………………. 3-4 
 
Media Coverage Audit…………………………………………...…… 5 
 
Objectives and Media Strategy………………………………….. 6 
 
Press Release……………………………………………………………… 7-8 
 
Infographics………………………………………………………………. 9-10 
 
Social Media……………………………………………………………….. 11-14 
 
Feature Stories…………………………………………………………… 
15-22 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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Situational Analysis 
 
Stand for State is Penn State’s bystander intervention program. The organization
focuses on the issues of sexual and relationship violence, mental health concerns, acts
of bias, and risky drinking and drug use. Stand for State works to educate students on
how to be a productive bystander and create the norm that everyone plays a role in
watching out for each other because everyone deserves to be safe. Their primary
objective is to emphasize the three D’s: distract, direct, and delegate. The program
would like to grow their outreach by raising awareness of their efforts on Penn State’s
campus.

Launching their efforts in January 2016, the program started with 83+ volunteers. While
their involvement has grown, the program faces the challenge of getting students to
engage in and educate themselves on their work. The program initially focused on the
awareness aspect of a general commitment curve. Their efforts were centered on
making students aware of the initiative, which may have hindered a desire for active
involvement. Students may have become conscious that this effort exists, but that
awareness hasn’t necessarily translate to direct participation. The program needs
assistance in communicating their own objectives and resources in an active way to the
student body, by conveying how individuals can participate in making a difference.
However, they have shown impressive numbers when it comes to the impact that they
have made so far. Their programming numbers include 1,124 students program
attendance, 156 student training attendance and 3,155 event tabling contacts. At these
events, student interaction also generated 153 green dots to take over red dots that
were present in the area. After this analysis and due to the demographic that this
program is aiming to reach, social media would be an effective form of outreach. Stand
for State needs to measurably increase their efforts to educate the public about their

 
objectives while actively promoting their training programs, or students will not
participate in the initiative.

 
 
 
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Target Audience Research 
Target Public Research:

● Penn State Undergraduate Demographics:

https://admissions.psu.edu/apply/statistics/
○ 46% percent female and 54% male
○ 68% white, 8.6% international, 6.2% Hispanic/Latino, 5.9% Asian
American, 5.8% African American
○ 76,767 students university-wide
○ 41,359 students at University Park
● Stand for State Technographic information:​ Fall 2015 - Spring 2017 Impact
Report
○ 6,846 social media likes/views
○ 807 social media shares/mentions
○ 27 website clicks
○ 42 Listserv members
○ 53 signed the pledge
○ 46 signed up for workshops
○ 5 intervened when they say something concerning
● 18-24 year old behavioral social media habits
http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/
○ Younger Americans (especially those ages 18 to 24) stand out for
embracing a variety of platforms and using them frequently. Some 78% of
18- to 24-year-olds use Snapchat, and a sizeable majority of these users
(71%) visit the platform multiple times per day. Similarly, 71% of
Americans in this age group now use Instagram and close to half (45%)
are Twitter users.
○ The video-sharing site YouTube – which contains many social elements,
even if it is not a traditional social media platform – is now used by nearly
three-quarters of U.S. adults and 94% of 18- to 24-year-olds. And the
typical (median) American reports that they use three of the eight major
platforms that the Center measured in this survey.
○ The share of social media users who say these platforms would be hard to
give up has increased by 12 percentage points compared with a survey
conducted in early 2014

 
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○ 74% of Facebook users say they visit the site daily, with around half
(51%) saying they do several times a day.
○ A majority of Snapchat (63%) and Instagram (60%) users indicate that
they visit these platforms on a daily basis.
● General Public Social Media Use:
○ Today around seven-in-ten Americans use social media to connect with
one another, engage with news content, share information and entertain
themselves.
○ Young adults have consistently been the heaviest users of social media by
a substantial margin, and today that’s even more true: a staggering 90%
of them use social media, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center
study​. That’s a 78% increase from the 12% who were using social media
back in 2005.
○ Research shows that nearly 1 in 5 university students are affected with
anxiety or depression​. Social media and technology are among the most
dangerous of these factors. Excessive use of each tends to engender
impaired social media interaction and an increased sense of isolation.
Many college students are living dual virtual and real lives, and the virtual
life is competing and at times becomes more important than real life.
http://theconversation.com/1-in-5-college-students-have-anxiety-or-depression-heres-why
-90440
○ Millennials and Plurals are very cognizant of the misuse of social media,
with many saying they know a victim of online bullying or cyberstalking.
While this doesn’t eliminate their fascination with the medium, it does
mean they’re careful about how they use it.
○ A January 2016 Fortune ​article​ reported that Snapchat users view more
than 7 billion videos through the photo and video sharing app daily. In
terms of user demographics, in April 2015 ​article​ in eMarketer says 18 to
24 year olds accounted for about 45% of Snapchat customers.
https://www.modolabs.com/blog-post/social-media-use-among-college-students-and-teen
s-whats-in-whats-out-and-why/
○ In 2005 when Pew Research started to track social media trends, 5% of
American adults used at least 1 social media platform
○ Today 69% of the public uses some type of social media.
○ Facebook is the most-widely used of the major social media platforms
across all ages of population.​http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/
○ Snapchat has by far the youngest group of news users – 82% are ages
18-29.
http://www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2017/  
 
 
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Media Coverage Audit 
 
Most of the articles that mentioned Stand for State were from Penn State outlets such as
news.psu.edu and centredaily.com. There was also a lot of coverage from student-run
publications across campus as well as some national coverage as well. Overall, the articles we
found relatively delivered an informative message about the new bystander intervention
program being launched. The first event occured in January 2016 to bring awareness to the
Penn State community about Stand for State. The bystander intervention program encourages
others to intervene and promote a sense of responsibility. This will give the bystander motivation
to step in and take action to prevent sexual misconduct. Some of the articles had quotes from
Penn State students who attended the previous event expressing their excitement and opinion
about the program. The articles also focus on informing the audience about the plan Stand for
State has for the upcoming months, and cover events that the program has held. It has been
reported that since the initial launching in January 2016, many students and faculty feel very
hopeful about the positive impact this program will have on the community. This positive attitude
was also present in the way that these outlets described Stand for State and the program’s
efforts.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Objectives and Media Strategy 
 
Objectives:

1. Output: To put out one press release, four infographics, three individual feature
stories and a social media campaign in order to raise awareness of Stand for
State’s efforts.
2. Awareness: Post to Instagram once a day in order to specifically increase the
awareness of the peer educator program among students, with the overall goal of
raising the current follower account (8) to 500, and recruiting at least ten peer
educator volunteers by the start of the fall semester.

Media Strategy:

Our objectives are mainly focused on bringing Stand for State a larger social
media following that will ultimately work to increase the awareness of the peer educator
program. Our social media efforts will be supplemented by a press release detailing the
peer educator program that we will target toward local student media such as Onward
State and the Daily Collegian. We wanted to target these student-run publications
because our program focuses on students helping students.There is a newness,
proximity and human interest aspect to our message that we believe these publications
could benefit from.
Our content will be themed around raising awareness of the implementation of
this program. However, we will also include Stand for State’s main message of how to
be an effective bystander. This theme will be portrayed in our social media campaign
that is centered around Bystander Awareness month that takes place in August. This
content will work to educate the audience on what they can do to help and how they can
do it. The timing will be structured around the launch of the peer educator program with
most of that material being released over the summer in order to get students ready to
participate when they return to school. The consistent content relating to Stand for

 
State’s overall message will be released incrementally throughout the whole timeline of
the project.

 
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Press Release 
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PEER EDUCATOR PROGRAM PROMOTES A SAFER COMMUNITY

Student Leaders Provide Bystander Intervention Training and Consultation

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (Sept. 1, 2018) - Stand for State is increasing efforts to make campus

safer by training students to help their peers take action in threatening situations. The program is

geared towards creating a community where everyone plays a role in watching out for each other

-- because everyone deserves to be safe.

Katie Tenny, Stand for State’s coordinator, was quoted by the Daily Collegian saying,

“​when you look at the research around what prompts people to step in and help each other, a key

factor is experiencing empathy and connection with others.” Peer to peer education is one way

personal connection is utilized to promote an environment where students feel comfortable

stepping in.

This program is piloting in the fall of 2018 and Stand for State is looking to recruit ten

peer educators to participate. It is a one and a half year commitment that allows students to teach

their peers about how to step in in real situations.

 
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Students in this position will be tasked with training student groups and working as a

consultant to pinpoint and resolve social issues that exist in the community. They are expected to

devote 2-3 hours a week to Stand for State.

(more)

Ideal participants are students with a strong social presence, those who represent diverse

pockets on campus and have an open schedule allowing them to be committed to the cause. It is

important that the applicant doesn’t hold a peer educator position with any other organization.

The elected peer educators will develop skills in presenting to an audience, problem

solving, and consulting as they empower peers to step in and make a difference on campus.

Students will also receive class credit for their involvement.

This program is an addition to Stand for State’s existing bystander intervention efforts

that have been growing since the organization was first launched in January 2016. To register for

bystander intervention training or to learn more about the organization visit

https://studentaffairs.psu.edu/stand-state​.

ABOUT STAND FOR STATE

Stand for State is Penn State’s bystander intervention program focusing on sexual and

relationship violence, mental health concerns, acts of bias, and risky drinking and drug use. With

a goal to create a campus community where everyone plays a role in watching out for each other

because everyone deserves to be safe.

Media Contact:
Jordan Specht
Social Media Coordinator
jordanspecht@aol.com
 
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914-815-8335

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Infographics 

 
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Social Media 
 
Bystander Awareness Month Campaign:  
 

 
 

 
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Sample informative posts: 
 

 
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Sample Media Day promotion: 

 

 
 
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Feature Stories 
Don’t be a hero: Small actions make a big difference in bystander intervention

By Olivia Catena

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — “You don’t want to tell people to be a hero, you just want to tell them

to help their friend,” said Stand for State’s coordinator, Katie Tenny.

Tenny described that most students want to help, but don’t exactly know how. Many are afraid to

step up or step in.

Stepping in can be simple, but it isn’t always easy. This bystander intervention program

teaches students the three D’s. Three tools that can defuse a risky situation: direct, distract and

delegate.

However, sometimes these tools can be misconstrued as needing to be a heroic act. That

mindset, “becomes a barrier for people and creates an impression that you have to do something

big and heroic,” Tenny said, but that’s not the right approach.

Stand for State focuses on risky drinking behavior and drug use, sexual and relationship

violence, mental health concerns and acts of bias and discrimination. In the case of any of these

situations, Stand for State volunteers “teach people how to step in for each other,” said Tenny.

This program is all about making small actions. There are ways to help people that don’t involve

an elaborate scheme or a major production.

Sophomore Emily Dinda is one student who has learned this lesson. Just a few months

into her college career, she was thrown into a situation that forced her to think on her feet. “It

was first semester my freshman year at Penn state and I was at a party,” Dinda said.

 
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“I was on the main floor dancing with some girls, it was really, really crowded and people walk

past you all the time and if you brush bodies it’s not a big deal,” she explained.

“So it’s not weird to get touched I guess but it’s never really in a sexual manner, it’s just the lay

of the land.”

Debunking the stereotype that what a girl wears plays a role in what happens to her,

Dinda added, “we weren’t wearing anything that you’ve never seen before at Penn State, it’s not

like it was wildly inappropriate.”

The scene was a typical fraternity party, “it was dark and the lights were flashing and the

music was super loud and it was hard to have a conversation with someone unless they literally

pressed their mouth up against your ear, ” Dinda described.

Amidst the chaos, Dinda and her friend noticed a male student begin to approach them.

“It was hard to see his face but he was a man and he kept coming up to my friend and he was

grabbing her around the waist, he kept touching her stomach, and he was trying to pull her back

away from me and she grabbed my hand and gave me a look,” said Dinda.

Her initial reaction was typical of most in this situation. She simply told her friend just to

walk away. However, in scenes like this something so simple turns into a difficult task. Dinda

explained that, “it was really crowded so it was hard for us to move a far distance. We moved as

far as we were able to move away from this man and then he just kept following my friend and

he kept grabbing her…she obviously wasn’t having it.”

Dinda and her friend initially employed the “direct” technique which Katie Tenny

described as, “interacting directly with the situation and acknowledging concern in some way.”

In an attempt to do this, Dinda said her friend, “turned around and said ‘Can you stop,’ and I

pushed him on the shoulder and told him stop as well.”

 
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Their efforts didn’t seem to faze the stranger because he continued his inappropriate

behavior, picking up the girl and forcing her to dance with him. Dinda described the subject

saying, “he was clearly really intoxicated but also coherent enough that he could pick somebody

all the way up.”

This is when she decided that she couldn’t handle the situation on her own. Rather than

confronting the man herself, Dinda admitted that, “a better option would have been to leave

completely or tell multiple members of the house,” adding “you should delegate and tell

someone with power in the situation to get involved.”

Dinda decided to take her own advice and follow another one of the three D’s. “I wrote in

the group message that a few of the boys that lived in the house were in and said ‘We’re standing

at the high table to the right of the TV, this guy keeps picking up my friend and bothering her

can you please tell him he needs to leave,” Dinda said.

This call to action prompted a couple people that lived in the house to find Dinda and her

friend and escort the man out of the party. The situation was resolved and no one had to worry

about anything more dangerous taking place.

By utilizing simple bystander intervention tactics, Dinda was able to defuse a situation

that could have gotten a lot worse. Her small, but smart, actions ended up making a big

difference.

This is the knowledge that must be spread among college students in order to create an

environment where everyone feels comfortable stepping in. Stand for State is launching a new

peer educator program in the fall of 2018 that aims to train students to educate their peers on

bystander intervention tips. If you are interested in spreading this knowledge and creating a safer

community visit​ ​http://standforstate.psu.edu​ to register today.

 
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Stand for State coordinator looks to empower bystanders to help others

By Jordan Specht

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.- The best bystander is, “able to step in and help safely and

effectively,” according to Katie Tenny, coordinator of Stand for State; the peer educator does just

that. Educating students to be able to effectively help a situation that could be potentially unsafe

is one of the goals of the program.

Tenny continued to say, “I think many times people get stuck and think they have to

make a scene and call someone out in order to help, but there are also discreet ways to assist, or

even caring ways to check in with the person in harm's way or the person doing the harm.”

The peer educators should be able to socially influence people, represent a variety of

pockets of campus, and have an open schedule to be committed to their duties. The elected peer

educators will develop skills in presenting to an audience, problem solving, and consulting as

they empower peers to step in and make a difference on campus to ultimately create a positive

change.

Tenny highlighted the point that there is no one right way to step in and be an effective

bystander. The 3 D’s – direct, distract, or delegate are three different tactics to interrupt

situations. Depending on the context of the situation, how well the bystander knows the people

involved, what barriers may be coming up for someone, and the safety risk will help someone

pick a way to step in that would fit.

Being aware of typical social barriers are important in becoming an effective bystander,

however, they are oftentimes hard to overcome. Tenny explained the 3 D’s tactic in an example

with her own life scenario.

 
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“For example, in my position, people expect that I will step in often if I see something,

but that also means that sometimes it feels like I’m “the mom”, so instead of checking in with a

person directly, I may delegate to another friend that is close with that person to check in.”

Tenny said.

The peer educator program highlights that learning about this social issue is one of the

most important things someone can do to be proactive. Learning and educating others on this

topic is a lifelong process. Other ways to be a proactive bystander are finding ways to

demonstrate that people care and that violence is not tolerated.

One way to spread awareness and education about this social issue is simply by having

conversations with people; by doing this it makes it a new norm to check in with each other

about this topic. While discussing with Tenny, she noted that it is important to find a way to

incorporate this principle of conversation in organizations you’re a part of. It is a chain reaction;

by spreading awareness and education on this social issue it can protect someone or save

someone from a potentially dangerous situation.

“I would encourage someone to think about their areas of influence, and what they’re

passionate about, and use those as platforms.” Tenny pointed out.

 
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Stand for State continues to take action for a safer campus

By Julianna Livelli

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Imagine a campus where everyone plays a role in a community

where students look out for one another. There is no sexual and relationship violence, mental

health concerns, risky drinking or drug use. This is the campus which Stand for State wants to

create. Utilizing prevention and intervention methods, Stand for State aims to make campuses a

safer place by addressing acts of aggression before they even happen.

Stand for State is Penn State's bystander intervention program, focusing on sexual and

relationship violence, mental health concerns, acts of bias, and risky drinking and drug use. The

programs are geared toward creating a community where everyone contributes to making it a

safer environment.

Stand for State started out as a program that focused on sexual and relationship violence.

As more workshops were implemented and more people were volunteering, the program started

to expand. After two years of planning, Stand for State launched on Jan. 25, 2016. According to

news.psu.edu, the program began with about 200 volunteers. These volunteers underwent a

four-day training seminar, teaching them to combat sexual abuse and harassment.

The seminar focused on providing participants with the skills to recognize potential

problematic situations and defuse the situation by stepping in when appropriate. "Really simply,

this initiative is about giving people realistic and safe options to step in and help when a person

may be in harm's way," said Stand for State coordinator, Katie Tenny. Tenny also emphasizes

that the program will show students "how to create a safer campus community for everyone." In

2017, mental health concerns, acts of bias, risky drinking and drug use were also implemented

 
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into these workshops in order to spread more awareness around campus. Additionally, a bias and

discrimination workshop was launched.

This upcoming fall, Stand for State's peer educator program will be run by students,

giving them the opportunity to discuss unsafe situations and outlining steps on how to defuse

them. The elected peer educators will acquire skills in problem-solving, audience presentation

and consulting as they empower peers to step in and make a difference on campus.

Throughout the year, those trained individuals will implement bystander intervention

workshops for student leaders, new students and other members of the Penn State community.

Bystander intervention encourages others to intervene and promote a sense of responsibility. The

workshops will teach attendees how to safely intervene in potentially harmful situations. This

peer education program is about making small actions; students don't have to make a big scene,

just defuse the situation. Students will have the opportunity to interact with one another and talk

amongst themselves regarding situations the community has faced.

Another program initiative is the "Three ‘Ds"- direct, distract, or delegate in times of

crisis. This simple methodology provides memorable tactics for stepping in. "Direct" means

interacting with the people involved in the situation, and express that you are concerned.

"Distract" means distract the people involved by diverting their attention to something else, and

use the distraction to covertly defuse the situation. "Delegate" refers to asking someone else,

such as the host, a professor, or a bouncer to get involved and prevent the situation from

escalating.

Taylor Sweeney, 22, is an ambassador for Stand for State and its pre-launch initiative.

Sweeney emphasized how students learn how to be an active bystander by practicing real-life

situations with the 3D's. Many students have experience success utilizing the 3 Ds in everyday

situations. "Students [who] I have spoken with have implemented the three D's and worked to

 
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defuse situations they previously had no control over." said Sweeney, "Realizing you have the

ability to prevent situations by distracting, directing and delegating is the first step to

empowering students to help each other."

As Katy Tenny told the Centre Daily Times, "Enough people have to actually believe

that their individual contributions make a difference. When enough people start believing that

and start doing that, that's when things really start to really change."