The Communications Office

Whether surfing the college website, walking into the lobby of Old Main, or opening the 2007-2008 catalog to reveal an open-mouthed, ecstatic picture of Becky Witter on a summer music tour, the communications office has captured your subconscious attention.

The products of the communications office saturate the campus of Maranatha Baptist Bible College. It seems as if you can’t enter and exit a building without seeing either an advertising poster for the upcoming school play, a copy of the school magazine, The Advantage, lying on a table, or any other type of printed media.

The communications office has the skill to keep students and faculty – as well as prospective students, alumni, donors and just about everyone else in its reach – dependent on its services. By reflecting the true quality of what Maranatha is really about, the communications office adds an appeal to keep you looking and wanting to come back for more.

Not only is the communications office a center for reflecting Maranatha in a truthfully appealing way, it is also a delightful place to work.

Melanie Killingsworth, writer and videographer for the communications office, says that some days it seems too surreal to be working for the communications office. Melanie hopes to go into a media business using her skills in writing, photography and videography, so the communications office is a great benefit as well as an enjoyment.

With all the creative people working on artistic projects, there is never a dull moment in the communications office, says project manager, Naomi Ledgerwood. All the employees who work for the communications office literally get extremely close, remarkably fast. With such a small office, bonds are bound to be tight.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the communications office is a cramped closet space. When you walk in, there will only be room for you to take three steps to the left or shuffle two steps to the right (just don’t run into the chair in the corner).

The length of the office would be the same length as laying two averaged sized people on the floor. To walk from one end to the next requires you to be fairly skinny, especially when squeezing between the copier and the web site designer’s (Jeremiah Calvino) rolling chair.

In this closet sized office there are constant discussions being debated about politics, religion, philosophy, or even a simple question of whether or not Rob Larson, the senior videographer, should really spend $4.00 on another cup of coffee from the Old Main Café (located just a short walk away from the office).

Each member of the communications office works hand in hand with each other as the personalities of each person just seem to clique. That is what makes this office so different from any other normal office on Maranatha’s campus. Melanie Killingsworth reflects on this concept. She says, “We learn a lot from each other, enjoy one another’s’ company, ‘steal’ tip and techniques, discuss politics, and overall have a great time.”

Each member of the communications office contributes to the overall goal of bringing Maranatha to the world.

Naomi Ledgerwood is the “head-honcho” in charge of the communications office. She organizes the projects and makes sure that the other components in the office are supported well to see that those projects are finished.

Naomi is extremely versatile. Not only is she in charge of the office administration, she is also a skilled photographer (when she isn’t picking out ties for the Maranatha summer traveling ensembles).

I remember being shoved in the communications office with about six or seven other employees. We were all so squished trying to either work on a computer, or stand and argue a theological topic. Naomi’s eye caught the perfect shot. As we were all laughing and talking together, she shot a few pictures that truly captured the family we all have become. She is just one example of the multi-talented workforce in the communications office.

Karen Greer serves as the graphic design artist for the communications office. She is also a skilled photographer who often comes out to various Maranatha events to capture the true life of the college. Her goal for the graphic design section of the communications office is “to come up with creative and compelling designs so Maranatha is put in the best light possible and so prospective students will want to apply.”

Karen’s office is very unique and seems to fit her personality and comfort zone. As if the main office itself wasn’t small enough, Karen’s office is about the size of a janitor’s closet.

If you were to squeeze passed the over-sized printer in the main office, you will see an open doorway that leads to Karen’s office. When you first walk in, you may take a double take realizing that the office is not as big as it may appear. There is an optical illusion of an extra bookshelf on the wall next to a real bookshelf completely full of organized material. Her desk, full of graphic design print outs, notes and photos, adds character to her small, comfortable cove.

She certainly knows how to juggle big projects. Just a few weeks ago she said her “I do’s” to Jonathan Greer. A week before her wedding she was putting the final touches on one of Maranatha’s magazines, The Advantage.

The Advantage is a semi-annual magazine designed to engage readers while covering a broad mix of stories—alumni focus, alumni news/updates, campus news/awards/accomplishments, key campus event or story, development focus, faculty focus . . . the list goes on.

Aside from printed material, there is one venue that impacts students and prospective students the most: the Internet. Maranatha produces two highly developed websites. One is specifically geared toward students, the C-net, and one is designed to reach everyone, the Maranatha Babtist Bible College website.

The C-net is an important asset to the current students. It gives updates as well as a vital link to a recently implemented system (the e-learning system) that the students can use to check the status on each of their classes, see the study guides for the next test, post on discussion boards and many other academic actions.

Shannon Delany, a freshman elementary education major, says that “[she visits] the C-Net multiple times each day to check email, find locations of classes, and see whats coming up on the calendar. Without C-Net I would be lost.”

The Trumpeter is another major asset to current students. Students can either locate this news system on the C-net or in a daily e-mail. The Trumpeter gives news-worthy updates on current campus life.

Dorothy Hunter, a freshman elementary education major, says that she loves the Trumpeter, “It keeps me on track.”

The Maranatha Babtist Bible College website is full of information about the school. There are links specified to prospective students, alumni, current students, faculty, staff and donors. Since a new school year is on the brink, the communications office has come up with projects to attract prospective students.

One new prospective student project that the communications office is working on is a parody of NBC’s hit sitcom, The Office. This project not only reflects how the communications office interacts with prospective students, it also reflects the interaction that the communications office has with other offices on campus.

The project, labeled as The [Admissions] Office, works specifically with Maranatha’s admissions counselors. Melanie Killingsworth, age 21, and I were privileged to film the “Pilot” episode of The [Admissions] Office.

For all of us, actors and videographers, this was our first big video project, so a lot was learned and enjoyed from the experience. There were plenty of laughs and sticky situations with the camera. This made life behind the camera quite a ride.

The hardest shot for us to capture was the last scene of the show. This scene was filmed in a room even smaller than the communications office. The room is commonly known as the calling room, where the admissions councilors make their calls to prospective students.

As I was video taping a monolog shot of Andrew Solarek, a junior admissions councilor from Greenwood, IN, Melanie was standing on the ledge of a window filming a shot behind me. The angles had to be captured just right to pull this scene off, but it worked out well.

The idea for this prospective student video came from a combined meeting between the communications office and the admissions office. All ten of us sat around an eight person sized table and brainstormed ideas on how to promote Maranatha.

Jeremiah Calvino threw out some amazing ideas to the panel. We discussed them all, agreed that they were brilliant, but still felt like we needed something new and appealing. Steve Mann, senior admissions councilor, gave his pre-written plan to the panel about acting out a parody of a TV program. We all loved the idea and decided to pursue the possibility.

Matthew Kerns, a high school senior and prospective student for Maranatha, says that the idea of a sitcom parody “would be good and yea I think I would come back [to the website] again.”

The communications office is constantly coming up with new ideas to promote Maranatha in the best light possible. With the constant changes of ideas comes a constant evolution of the communications office.

Naomi Ledgerwood would like to see the communications office continue to evolve into a half staff/half faculty department. The leaders would teach classes while the student workers would be in charge of the video, web set up and writing. This is also the goal of the administration at Maranatha: creating a communications major.

Karen Greer sees the communications office growing as well. She says, “As the college continues to grow I see our department growing too, getting more student workers, having a broader base whereby we can cover more events both in print, on the web, and through video.”

Even as the communications office changes in how it presents material and how it evolves it’s structure, the goal will always remain the same: to clearly and accurately present Maranatha to the world.