Spring Break
Gaston's Corner
By David gaston -Issue date: 1/1/08 Section: Editorial
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Many factors contribute to underachievement among minority students, including economics, parenting, community, and their environment. It is for this reason that everyone who wants the best for our students should be interested in working together to make UDC the best public University in this country.
I know that low-income minority students can excel academically because I fit into this category yet, I have not allowed the hardships in my life to stop me from achieving here at UDC and thanks to those people committed to serve, I am able to pass my blessing on to others. However, it's no secret that my generation still has serious challenges to overcome but underachievement doesn't have to continue to be our national crisis.
We who are committed to higher education must think outside the box and pay closer attention to the non-academic world where companies are attracting our minority students with great success.
The question for our academic institutions becomes a critical one. What are they (the companies) doing to attract and retain our students as dedicated and loyal consumers that we are not able to do as educators to attract and retain them as high achieving students? I know for a fact that the music industry, sports industry, nightclubs and car dealerships -
to name a few, have a great understanding of how they can pull their resources to sell their product. It's called Integrated Marketing!
These industries thrive because integrated marketing strengthens the overall message and shows how brands with products and services are supported by other brands that consumers already trust. A great brand knows its consumer better than the consumer knows himself. These companies do their research and take pride in being good at what they do. If Cadillac wants to sell their new 2008 truck, they already know what people between the ages of 18 to 35 are looking for in a truck. Expect to see a commercial that puts their truck in the big city rolling sweet and shining through the streets headed to a NBA game (pick a team). The driver is wearing something fashionable (pick a designer) while listening to a popular R&B song (pick any singer).
There might even be a beautiful lady (pick a model) in the passenger's seat talking on a cell phone (pick a carrier), and in the cup holder…isn't that a Pepsi can? My point is these guys have intentionally included in the commercial all the brands they know we already trust helping to reinforce our thoughts about the Cadillac brand. Its big business and all the companies with similar interests who want in on the hype of the new Cadillac truck want their product featured in that commercial. You can make the argument that some business executives work better together promoting their products to our young people than some educators do promoting excellence for the business of education.
My hope is that those who read my column remember that we must work together as a people. UDC has a very important job to do and it calls for ALL HANDS ON DECK!
The Time Is Now and The Place Is UDC.
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