Marketing the Evergreen Terroir

12 credits (4 internship credits, 8 academic credits)

Undergraduate In Program Internship with Individual Learning Component

Field Supervisor: Michelle Ma, Chief Communications Officer, The Evergreen State College

Description

“Marketing the Evergreen Terroir” has dual meanings. As terroir is the French word meaning ‘taste of place’ and the concept around which the academic program Terroir: Chocolate, Oysters, and Other Place-Flavored Foods is based, it refers to the taste of The Evergreen State College and also as shorthand for the program. Food- and agriculture-based programs at Evergreen are strong and have inspired hundreds of small farmers and entrepreneurs, and our campus’s sustainable energy and food procurement is some of the best. Despite the brilliant work being done, the college website and outward promotion of these activities remain outdated and insufficient.

This internship and in-program projects will involve digging deep into the college’s current methods of marketing food/agriculture opportunities at the college, and exploring ways to increase the visibility of Evergreen’s rich terroir.

Learning Objective #1

4 credit internship with Evergreen’s Marketing and Communications department, focusing specifically on promoting food/agriculture academic programs and student initiatives.

What framework could be placed to allow for better future promotion of food and agriculture at Evergreen?

Activities that will help me to attain this objective

  • Study how the college is currently promoting its food/agriculture offerings and make recommendations
  • Research lists (e.g. “Top 10 colleges with farms…”, “Top 10 Colleges for Food) and survey which claims Evergreen could match and promote
  • Update the Evergreen Food Guide in print and online (http://www.evergreen.edu/dining/foodguide)
  • Work to get Evergreen’s food/agriculture activities into conversations by target groups (e.g. are there teen agriculture groups in person or online that we need to be a part of or to market to?)
  • Assist with identifying public relations or paid advertising opportunities where Evergreen can showcase the food/agriculture offerings
  • Document the student-organized dinner for the Daniel J. Evans Chair Lecturer in the Liberal Arts and guests, and pursue online promotion of those efforts
  • Design a brochure for the Sustainable Food Systems academic programs.
  • Host author Rowan Jacobsen (of A Geography of Oysters, The Living Shore, and American Terroir) at the Evergreen Shellfish Garden and organize the Evergreen-Terroir lunch feast and media promotion of visit
  • Help with Evergreen’s participation in Gov. Inslee’s Shellfish Week, through organizing details for a photo-backdrop-with-live-geoducks at Graduation
  • Work with Advancement to set up future food/agriculture offerings at the Art of Living auction
  • Establish standard hashtags for the Organic Farm, Shellfish Garden, Harvest Festival, Community Gardens, Demeter’s Garden, Food/Agriculture Programs, etc
  • Update food/agriculture presence on the campus website (virtual tour, Beaches and Trails page, Sustainable Agriculture Lab, etc)
  • Work with the Greener Bookstore to get Shellfish Club and Organic Farm t-shirts in the store

Learning Outcomes

  • Links and screenshots on my Terroir Field Study website to all work completed
  • Before-print draft of the Evergreen Food Guide
  • written evaluation of work accomplished by field supervisor Michelle Ma

Learning Objective #2

Educate new generations of Evergreen students about the unique terroir/meroir (taste of place) of Olympia, WA.

What do future students working on food/agriculture projects at Evergreen need to know, to establish continuity of projects?

Activities that will help me to attain this objective

  • Train new coordinators for the Evergreen Shellfish Club/Garden

  • Write a Leadership Manual for all aspects of running the Shellfish Club/Garden

  • Train new Chair/Vice-Chair of the student-led Food Systems Working Group committee

  • Write an Informational Packet for all aspects of running the Food Systems Working Group
  • Oversee the drafting, approval, and advertisement of Evergreen’s new comprehensive food policy

Learning Outcomes

  • written summary of work accomplished for each goal

  • Leadership Manual for the Shellfish Club

  • Informational Packet for the Food Systems Working Group leadership

  • links to any work completed onTerroir Field Study website

Learning Objective #3

Read eight books loosely around the subject of marketing, some already assigned to the entire program, and some independently chosen to enhance my internship learning.

What can be learned about marketing by reading books about leadership and how to influence people?

Activities that will help me to attain this objective

Read 1-2 chapters every week from the following books according to this schedule, and track the pages/hours read on personal Terroir website.

Keep a Reading Notebook, divided into sections, and take note of interesting quotes, thoughts, or concepts requiring further research, and type all of the notes onto an organized page on Terroir website.

  • Stick Your Neck Out: A Street-Smart Guide to Creating Change in Your Community and Beyond by John Graham, President of The Giraffe Heroes Project
  • Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
  • Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
  • Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity by Anne Elizabeth Moore
  • Brand Hijack: marketing without marketing by Alex Wipperfürth
  • American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields by Rowan Jacobsen
  • Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat by John McQuaid
  • The Kitchen As Laboratory: Reflections on the Science of Food and Cooking edited by César Vega, Job Ubbink, and Erik van der Linden

Learning Outcomes

  • evaluation of typed Reading Notes on Terroir Field Study website

Completed Noteworthy Outcomes of Project