Tarleton State prides itself on being a university that is eagerly willing to help and give back to the community. This can be seen in the annual “Tarleton Round Up” event that is held around the time of Thanksgiving each year, through the Purple Pantry on campus, or even in the Alternative Spring Break program that Tarleton occasionally offers.
In an effort to give back to the community here in Stephenville, a group of six Tarleton Texan students, with the help of their professor, made the decision to take their business retailing class project to the next level.
Dr. Yi-Chia Wu is a college of business professor who also is the head of the College of Business Tartan Project. She teaches MKTG 3317 – better known as the upper level marketing course titled “Retailing” – at Tarleton State University.
The purpose of this course is to equip students with the fundamental knowledge and operations of “retailing, studying of buying practices, pricing, store locations and layout, sales promotions, personnel management, and stock control,” the Tarleton course catalog website described. The course is designed to help and encourage students who will eventually pursue a career in the retailing and marketing field.
As part of her course, Dr. Wu set up a project for her students to complete that involved a presentation component, a research paper component, and an activity component relating to the overall objectives of the retailing course.
It was important from the standpoint of Dr. Wu to ensure that her participating students documented everything involved in their project. Every email, text, and other correspondence needed to be recorded in the hopes of her students understanding the endeavors that are involved in communicating with other parties in a successful manner. Each student-led group was instructed to organize, report, communicate, plan, and design the intricacies of their own exchanges and projects.
“Our Professor, Dr. Wu, came up with the initial idea for the project. As previously mentioned, Dr. Wu is the head of the College of Business Tartan Project. We are in her retailing course, which goes along very well with the Tartan project and their main objectives. We were assigned the project to gain hands-on, real world experience but also were able to help market and advertise for the Tartan Project and the products they sell,” project member Chloe Johnson described.
For their class project, Matthew McQueen, Abby Ellis, Hunter Lucas, Macey Ott, Mollie Parker, and Chloe Johnson made the choice to have a constructive and humanitarian significance behind their project, and they ultimately decided to donate Tarleton fan masks to the Erath County Veteran Services organization.
“Erath County Veteran Services struck an interest for each group member seeing that we all have family members that are veterans, so we wanted to give back,” project contributor Macey Ott explained.
All of the fan masks were donated from and through the Tarleton Tartan program whose purpose is providing a hands-on opportunity for Tarleton business students, while simultaneously providing high-quality Tarleton Tartan products that Tarleton supporters and the Stephenville community can purchase.
The Tartan Project helps students comprehend the underlying trials of owning, maintaining, and operating an efficient and profitable business while juggling with the likes of everyday life.
“The Tarleton Tartan project creates and sells different items to the population of Tarleton and Stephenville, such as sweatshirts, ties, mugs, etc. It is a great organization for students in the College of Business to be a part of and get hands-on experience within their major. The organization gives students the opportunity to get real- world experience in business and shows students the process of building a business from the ground up,” Johnson interpreted.
In total, the group was able to donate 15 handmade fan masks to the Erath County veteran services, who eagerly and graciously accepted the warm-hearted contribution from the hardworking students.
“‘Fan Masks’ are a one size fits all face covering designed and made by the members of the Tarleton Tartan project. The face masks are mostly made up of polyester and have a soft and comfortable feeling to them. They are black, white and purple with a plaid design and the Texan Rider in the middle,” Johnson continued.
The student group expressed their appreciation for the knowledge that they gained from this experience, and how it not only changed their perspective in regards to their project, but also with reference to the Stephenville community and society as a whole. They learned how to work with each other in a constructive manner such that no one person was doing all of the heavy lifting, and yet the goal was still successfully achieved.
“Personally, I thought the most fulfilling part of the project was seeing how grateful veteran Lindsey Merriman was to be receiving the masks and her excitement to share them with other veterans around our area,” Johnson expressed.
From an all-embracing standpoint, the student group wanted to show their downright appreciation and gratitude towards Dr. Wu, Dr. Rajarshi Aroskar, and the Erath County Veteran Services for taking time out of their schedule to allow them to fulfill their aspirations for their project, and for supporting them every step of the way during this educational enterprise.
For information regarding Erath County Veteran Services and the Tarleton Tartan Project, please visit www.co.erath.tx.us/207/Veteran-Services and www.tarleton.edu/tartan/.
