Final Exam

First and foremost, here is the logo Jared and I created for the final exam. We both like simple and clean style and we thought this logo is just that, with a little bit of contemporary in there as well. You can check out Jared’s part of the Final Exam here: https://jaredsblog.news.blog/cap-105-final-exam/.

Our professor had us go on a scavenger hunt around Grand Valley’s campus, which actually ended up being super fun. If the weather had been nicer I think it would’ve been a 10/10 experience so I’ll just give it a 9.9/10 for now.

This was the first stop on our Scavenger Hunt: Baw-Wa-Ting Courtyard. Fun fact: GV’s downtown campus used to be the site of a Native American tribe.
Our next stop was the iconic blue bridge. We discovered from a plaque that this used to be the place of a milling company in the late 1800s.
Our next stop was this cool white sculpture by the blue bridge. Fun fact: You shouldn’t stand on it.
Our last stop was at the flag poles outside of DeVos library. Fun fact: these flags represent the countries of the foreign exchange students that Grand Valley hosts!

During our scavenger hunt we stumbled upon some really cool landmarks on campus. Along with landmarks, we were to find an art sculpture that spoke out to us and – well, Jared and I both fell in love with this one.

This totem pole is found right outside of Siedman College of Business. I think it’s awesome how GV nodded to the Bawating tribe that lived on these lands centuries ago. The amount of detail in the totem pole is really meticulously designed. It blends in well with the rest of campus that I almost didn’t see it at first!

Jared and I also made a video of our favorite spot on campus, which is the courtyard at the Siedman College of Business building. Check out the video below, which is linked to my Twitter account!

For our next task we were to find places on campus to take pictures of ourselves doing memes. At first we were a bit anxious of doing this in public, but then we found an auditorium that no one was using. It took us literally five minutes to figure out how to turn on the lights. With a few more minutes of propping up our phones in the seats in front of the stage, we were able to come out with these beauties.

This one is called “Quidditching” – made popular by Harry Potter. We found a random pole on the stage and decided to double up.
Jared really took the force on this one. This meme is called “Vadering” – made popular by Star Wars (Star Trek?)
This last one is called “Hadouken” – from what I understand it’s from Naruto, which I never watched growing up but the meme itself is pretty sweet.

Following the theme of memes, I was asked to find an additional meme that was significant to me. As a cat aficionado, I cannot stress enough how important the following meme is to me.

This is one of my favorite memes because it’s just so dumb. The facial expressions on these two women and this cat are just so perfect. I think the woman in the middle is the most underrated; you can tell that she truly wants the drama to go away while she’s comforting her enraged friend, but she has just a bit of empathy for the cat. Any caption goes with this meme which makes it pretty versatile. The picture of the women on the left is from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and the picture on the right is of Smudge the Cat, who did not get his fame until after this meme was crafted. I think memes like this are important because, for the most part, they are nonpartisan posts that everyone can laugh at and enjoy. It brings togetherness among internet people which can be a super difficult thing to do in the midst of Trump-era politics, cancel culture, etc. Unless someone unnecessarily makes this meme into a political one, it can be enjoyed by anyone and is a funny post no matter how many times you see it.

Grand Valley Foundation Financial Report

Transitioning from memes to philanthropy in the spirit of school pride: Grand Valley State University Foundation.

To be honest, I was not aware of this foundation until this project. I went online and found the GVSU Foundation’s annual financial report, and the findings were really awesome! A record $26 million was raised this year from 14,000 donors: that’s an average of $1,857 per donor. Thank God for rich people.

Other highlights included an increase of donor-funded scholarships, growth for the university endowment (which is now at a new record: $129 million), expansion of the Medical Mile campus, and more money has been put into the Innovation Design Center for Engineering. It’s really nice to see that money from donors is being put into programs and scholarships that help students gain an advantage. It would’ve been disappointing to see this money put into things such as statues, landscaping, new coffee shops, etc.; which isn’t to say these things aren’t great, but the allocation of a Foundation fund should go towards the benefit of the students and I am glad to see that it is!

In 2018, we saw private giving doubled from $12.6m to $26m and endowment fund growth increased by 9.16% from 118.2m to 129m. Check out the information below, which was captured from: gvsu.edu/giving/ar2018.

From getting certified in Google Analytics to going scavenger hunting on campus, this year and this class in particular has taught me a lot about incorporating tech techniques into Advertising and PR. I am looking forward to continuing my education at GVSU and implementing what I’ve learned so far into my future career, whatever that may be!