CoJMC students create campaign to spread kindness

Wednesday, April 25, 2018 - 11:15am

by Alli Inglebright

Students in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications have been working to spread kindness on campus this semester. The students in assistant professor Valerie Jones’ ADPR 361 Connecting Thought Owned, Earned and Paid Media class spent the semester conducting research and a executing smaller campaign that will culminate in a kindness event. The event is Thursday, April 26 from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the UNL Union Plaza.

The event, which falls on International Pay-It-Forward Day, will feature opportunities for students to spread kindness on campus. Participants can write kind messages on Post-It notes, take part in a Pay-It-Forward challenge, enjoy snacks and play games.

“This idea started at the beginning of the semester,” Jones said. “I asked students what their New Year’s resolutions were and what they wanted for campus. A lot of students said they wanted to be more positive and kind. They talked about wanting to connect with more people.”

After the issues surrounding white supremacy surfaced on campus in Fall 2017 the class knew they wanted to do something to make a difference. They wanted to help others feel a little better, which would in turn make them feel better, Jones said.

The class started with a Post-It note project featuring kind messages and a hashtag. They placed the notes around campus as a first wave of activities.

“We had a good response from the Post-It notes,” Jones said. “They were shared on social media and we heard some good conversations surrounding them. We also used the notes to identify barriers that would come up in the campaign. We learned that it’s hard to spread kindness alone and people prefer to create kindness together.”

Jordan Snader, an advertising and public relations senior, is a student organizing the kindness event.

“An important lesson I learned in this class was how to work together in a large group,” Snader said. “Normally, when you’re working on a campaign it’s with a smaller group. We had 50 people in this class so it was cool to have so many different ideas colliding.”

The class conducted secondary and quantitative research to determine the direction of their campaign. They consulted journals and blogs and received several hundred responses from the survey. The kindness campaign has allowed the students to learn the ins and outs of owned, earned and paid media while contributing to the greater good of campus.

Follow along on Twitter @UNLPayItForward and on Facebook for more information.

NE Kind
The campaign included a Post-It note project that worked to spread kindness on campus on Valentine’s Day. Each note included a kind message and a hashtag.