This week’s campus celebrity is Merrimack’s very own Marketing Club. The club is part of the American Marketing Association or A.M.A. with the chapter at Merrimack called M.C.A.M.A. The vice president of the club, Maria Russo and the treasurer, Kenneth Baldwin share important information about the association and their goals.
Baldwin says that the goal of the club is to provide students with an opportunity to join our nationwide club in order to meet new people. The members build upon business skills with event planning, management of time, money and resources, networking, and other related topics. There are about 15-20 members involved in the club, including the president, Stephanie Pomerleau. Russo claims that the group enables students who enjoy marketing to get together and collaborate with each other as well as try to gain valuable knowledge of the industry.
Russo shares some of the events that take place through the Marketing Club, which include the annual babysitting mixer. The babysitting mixer is where Merrimack students can mingle with local families in need of a babysitter. She claims that most often long lasting relationships have been formed from the babysitting mixer and the families will stay with the sitter for many years.
Another aspect of events that A.M.A. holds is community service. Every year they put together the Thanksgiving basket drive. This year the club is making Easter baskets all for less fortunate families. The survival kits are filled with candy and snacks during midterms and finals for the students are also from their A.M.A. fundraiser. The club sends out letters and goes shopping to assemble and distribute every kit ordered. The last event is the etiquette dinner open to junior and senior students. The dinner gives students the chance to learn professional etiquette from which side of your shirt to wear a nametag or how to hold a fork. When the A.M.A. club is not doing community service, they like to participate in club bonding events such as laser tag.
Baldwin, who has been involved with this club since his sophomore year says that you do not need any experience to join this club. Sign ups are every year at the involvement fairs and their first meeting is geared toward questions with registration because it is a national organization and there is an application fee. The members believe the best part about the group is the team building trips and the great people. They have found the club to be beneficial for the future not only because of the value it adds to your resume, but more importantly the experiences you have endured.
The Marketing Club seems like it’s both a lot of work, but fun at the same time. We wish the A.M.A. luck with all their upcoming events around campus.