Throughout the past Fall semester, six students taking the Business Consulting and Practicum course worked on a project that could help increase participation in the Senior Olympics program through the Direction Home of Eastern Ohio.
The students partnered with Direction Home to help determine why participation in the Senior Olympic games dropped in recent year, while also developing plans to help increase the participation level.
The instructor for the class, Tim McFadden, explained that the students worked with Joe Rossi, CEO of the Direction Home of Eastern Ohio, and other staff members, throughout the project. The work culminated in a formal presentation to the organization that outlined suggested strategies for marketing and outreach.
The research included a comprehensive survey of past participants; benchmarking of other Senior Olympics program from across the country; and a review of the agency鈥檚 current web site and online presence.
鈥淭he students did a really nice job,鈥 Rossi said. 鈥淭he presentation and video were really informative. We have hired people and paid a lot of money and really never gotten as good of information.鈥
The students included Andrew Birk, Katie Larabee, Gloria Meiring, Sydney Rice, Austin Smith and Katelyn Yohman.
Cutline A: The students who worked with Direction Home were (from left) Katie Larabee, Sydney Rice, Gloria Meiring, Katelyn Yohman, Andrew Birk and Austin Smith
Cutline B: There for the presentation were (front, from left) students Andrew Birk, Sydney Rice and Katelyn Yohman; and (back, from left) students Gloria Meiring and Katie Larabee; Direction Home鈥檚 Mallory Wiand, Tony Cario, Doug Doyle and Joe Rossi; student Austin Smith; and instructor Tim McFadden.