Ball State University students got hands-on learning experience while planning Vera Bradley grand openings throughout the nation.
Junior finance major Benjamin Studebaker said the students, as part of a marketing and management class, worked with Vera Bradley during the semester to plan grand opening ceremonies at the company's new store locations.
The project was an immersive learning experience, during which students were involved with hands-on activities, Studebaker said.
"We got to learn how the company works from the inside," he said.
The class of 15 students was divided into three groups of five, each assigned to a different store location, he said.
The groups planned everything from budgets to decorations, Studebaker said.
Junior accounting major Sandi Fuller said she was in a group with Studebaker, and they presented their plans for a grand opening in Massachusetts to a co-founder of Vera Bradley in Chicago last week.
The group planned a "pink tie" event to support breast cancer research, she said.
"It was to be a high-class event," she said. "We planned to have hors d'oeuvres and a silent auction with Vera Bradley products."
Studebaker said Vera Bradley representatives were looking for an original perspective on a grand-opening ceremony.
"They didn't want just the normal ceremony where people stand around and have drinks and that's it," he said. "We gave them something outside of the norm, and they seemed to really like it."
Studebaker said the company representatives would decide whether to use the group's ideas and plans for the grand opening. Because the company cannot send the students to the actual ceremony, they were only involved in the planning process and not the execution, he said.
The students worked closely throughout the semester with the company's public relations personnel, one of whom is a recent Ball State graduate, Studebaker said.
"They were more than helpful to us," he said. Fuller said the hands-on experience will be helpful to her in her future career.
"We got so much more out of this than we would have from just lectures," she said. "This helped us prepare for what we might experience in our future careers."
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