Northwest Nazarene University’s American Marketing Association (AMA) Chapter received their most notable award to date as one of the Top 5 Small Chapters at the AMA International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. Small chapters are not small schools, but rather schools with memberships under 25 AMA professional members, which represents close to 70% of the 388 AMA Collegiate chapters. The team spent April 11-13 competing and networking with a record high of nearly 1,500 students.
Each year, American Marketing Association collegiate chapters from the United States and Puerto Rico come together to receive advice from professionals, develop their careers, engage in competitions, network with fellow marketers and explore the lively city of New Orleans.
“This an impressive accomplishment as we have never placed this high,” noted Dr. Konya Weber, Associate Dean of the NNU School of Business and AMA Faculty Advisor. “I am exceedingly proud of our AMA Collegiate Chapter and the accomplishments achieved this year. The leadership has been outstanding and dedication of all chapter members has been significant.”
NNU’s AMA chapter was represented by five students at the conference: McKenna Walker (senior double major in Management and Marketing), Kristianna Geiter (senior double major in Marketing and Studio Art), Lyndzie Parker (senior double major in Marketing and Management), Savanah D’Orazio (senior Marketing major) and Olivia Carter (graduate student pursuing an MBA).
Apart from earning the Top 5 Small Chapter Award, the AMA team also took home a number of other accomplishments. They received commendable recognition for the Wall Street Journal Case Competition; won second place for #GiveTuesday for small chapters, which helps raise money for scholarships; won honorable mention for the Marketplace Simulation competition which took place during the conference; were invited to present in the Collegiate Leadership Session in the area of Social Impact at the conference; attended the Digital Bootcamp and all members passed the exam, receiving the digital certification; and Lyndzie Parker won a $50 gift card from Coke-Cola —one of the conference sponsors —in their Dance Video Competition at the Social Scramble event.
Dr. Weber also served her last year of a 3-year term as Conference Co-Chair and council member.
“Attending the AMA conference in NOLA was an experience I wouldn't have gained if I didn't attend NNU,” said senior McKenna Walker. “This conference provided me with the opportunity to learn and grow in the field of marketing, as well as form relationships with people from different colleges. It was so fun to put all of the marketing strategies and knowledge learned in classes over the last four years into use.”