Ithaca College

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) majors, Adri Ustick ’22, Laura Heppes '21 and Cassidy Kosta '20, have been awarded Media Fellows Scholarships from Washington Media Scholars Foundation.

“I’ve worked two different internships;  All In Nutrition for their brand WICKED Protein, where I created three ads in addition to producing content for their Instagram, redesigning their website, as well as creating content for their giveaways; the other was the Massachusetts State House, my first time doing work in public policy and legislature, analyzing potential problems in legislation and finding solutions for those problems, drafting briefs and memos for bills, and completing other general administrative duties. I am currently studying IMC with a minor in graphic design and have found that I enjoy the combination of the marketing logic with the creativity of graphic design. I am still exploring what I want to do within the marketing field, but I am moving towards advertising and think that it would be great to work at a marketing and advertising firm so that I can utilize my skills and design aesthetically to create impactful work for the company.” -Ustick

“My interest in media lies in the fields of media planning and advertising law. On the media planning side, I love analyzing data and using strategy to place advertisements in accordance with consumer behavior. The psychology behind strategy and understanding how consumers navigate media channels is very interesting to me. On the advertising law side, I want to work specifically in regulating marketing to children and environmental marketing claims. I would ideally like to work for the Federal Trade Commission starting out. I find the ethics of advertising and marketing to be fascinating and I can’t really decide if I want to be the person acting as an ethical marketing professional or the personal regulating the marketing.” -Heppes

"I am mainly interested in media research. I think that strategy is one of the most important parts of marketing, since there are so many specific media that different target markets/age groups are using at any given time, and it is constantly changing (especially for young people). Deciding which media platforms to use for your message is one of the key determinants of the message's success, which is why I think it is an extremely important part of the marketing process. In my internship, I worked on our social media accounts for awhile and it was the first place I realized how important media selection is. When posting, I had to make sure I was using the right platforms to gain attention from the right audiences for the message we were trying to convey. I hope to be working in marketing when I graduate college, and I know that media research and planning will likely be something I do one day." -Kosta

The Washington Media Scholars Foundation recognizes enthusiastic and qualified students by awarding several competitive scholarships each academic year to students whose academic interests are at the intersection of advertising and public policy. This includes (but is not limited to) Advertising, Marketing, Communications, Business, Political Science, Strategic Media and other majors.