Elena Chang, a '21 graduate of IC's Integrated Marketing Communications program, competed in the national finals of the Washington Media Scholars Media Plan Case Competition this past week. She and her teammate finished as the runner-up team, winning $6000 in scholarships. This competition challenges students to use real-world data to design a strategic media plan based on a public policy issue.
The competition took place throughout the spring semester, culminating in Media Scholars Week from June 7-10. Elena competed solo in the first round and was paired with a teammate in the second round (Yanelis Funez, a '21 graduate of Penn State University). They competed against hundreds of students across the country, including students from other top communications schools and the Ivy League. Elena and her teammate advanced through three rounds of rigorous competition. Only the top six teams in the country were selected as finalists.
The finalist teams earned a week of networking and training with media professionals from organizations such as Hulu, Spotify, POLITICO, Google, Nielsen, CNN, and The Washington Post. On June 10, they presented their final media plans before a panel of expert media professionals. Elena and Yanelis earned high praise from the judges, who said it was one of the closest competitions to date. The team's competition advisor was associate professor Lisa Farman.
Congrats to Elena!