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Initiative to bolster schools
5 local companies to contribute funds
BY CHRIS GLAZNER
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
Five major local companies
committed Friday to donating a
combined $2.5 million to Triangle
high schools over the next five
years, with the goal of reducing
dropout rates and better preparing
students for college.
Superintendents from Orange,
Durham, Wake and Johnston
counties were present for the
announcement, and the 31 high
schools in those counties will join
the effort, which is called High Five.
The program will receive
SIOO,OOO each year for five years
from The (Raleigh) News &
Observer Publishing Cos., the Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of North
Carolina Foundation, SAS,
Progress Energy and Capitol
Students give firms a leg up on campus
Offer companies
marketing help
BY TIM PRICE
STAFF WRITER
College students always have
been a tough sell when it comes to
magazine subscriptions, said Dan
Sachar of People magazine.
The magazine created a pro
gram with EdVenture Partners, a
company that finds college stu
dents willing to work as marketing
representatives on university cam
puses. People selected students on
10 campuses across the country to
begin advertising campaigns.
Kavitha Balachandran and Jeff
Wood, both juniors in UNC’s busi
ness school, applied together for a
single position, thinking that
People would see that two heads
are better than one. The students’
plan worked, and the two now split
the wages from the job.
“Because we are students, we
have a better insight into what’s
going on on campus and what stu
dents want,” Balachandran said.
The pair were given a $2,000
budget to put together an ad cam
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Broadcasting Cos.
Although no specific plans for the
effort have been made, leaders say
they hope to increase graduation
rates to 100 percent by 2013 and to
put 90 percent of students on a col
lege tech prep track by 2009.
They also hope to increase the
number of students who meet the
minimum admission requirements
for UNC-system schools.
“Where we are at this point is
developing the capacity within our
school district to move forward
with that mission,” said Ann
Denlinger, superintendent of
Durham Public Schools.
After it hires a director, the next
step for the program will be to
determine what changes students,
teachers and administrators want
to see.
paign for People’s student sub
scription package. With the
money, they’ve put up flyers and
posters, donated to Dance
Marathon and begun giving out
incentives such as gift certificates
to new subscribers.
But People isn’t the only maga
zine looking for student attention.
Nationwide, companies are just
beginning to pursue employing stu
dents as marketing representatives
to reach college-age consumers.
To get things moving for anew
magazine, Time Inc., the publisher
that owns Sports Illustrated
among other publications, sought
out student promoters.
Sports Illustrated On Campus,
distributed at UNC on Thursdays
in The Daily Tar Heel, hired Laura
King to act as its lead marketing
representative. Students Megan
Serow and T. J. Breeden participate
as unpaid workers eligible for work
study credit.
The magazine provides the rep
resentatives with weekly assign
ments, promoting either the mag
azine or its sponsors, which
include Nike and Frito-Lay, and
also accepts proposals to fund
other promotional campaigns.
“It’s going to be a journey of try
ing to understand what the struc
tural problems are,” said Bob
Greczyn, CEO of Blue Cross and
Blue Shield of North Carolina.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City
Schools, which will join the con
sortium, are already in the process
of high school reform.
The CHCCS school board likely
will decide in April whether to
undertake several proposed
reforms, including changing sched
ules and class requirements as well
as creating a system of themed
academies within the high schools.
Some of the possibilities in the
High Five effort echo those of the
CHCCS reform, including offering
early college programs with help
from area universities.
N&O publisher Orage Quarles
said businesses have a strong inter
est in improving the quality of high
school education.
“I’ve had to develop from
scratch a lot of the things we’ve
done on campus this year,” King
said. “I’ve been given a lot more
responsibility than the general
intern.”
While Balachandran and Wood
applied for their positions because
they’re interested in marketing
careers, King, an English major,
said she never considered sports
marketing before she received the
internship.
Matt Davis said he didn’t expect
to be working as a representative
of Apple, the company that sells
everything from Macintosh com
puters to the hot new iPods.
After working in what he called
a mini-internship for Apple during
high school, Davis was asked to
serve as a representative for the
company on campus. Now he
speaks with interested customers,
addresses people’s concerns and
carries out promotions on campus.
“This job has made me realize
how much fun marketing and
advertising is,” Davis said.
Bach’s Lunch
A Noontime Series of Recitals
at
The Chapel of the Cross
Wednesdays at 12:15-12:45
Wednesday, April 7: Holy Week
Stabat Mater by Giovanni Battista Pegolesi
Molly Quinn, soprano
Wednesday, April 14
Dr Wylie S. Quinn 111, organist
Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill
Wednesday, April 21
Dr Charles Hogan, organist
Church of the Holy Comforter, Burlington
Wednesday, April 28 •
Kevin Kerstetter, organist
St Michael’s Episcopal Church, Raleigh
Wednesday, May 5
Eddie Abernathy, organist
Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill
Chapel of the Cross/304 E. Franklin St./Chapel Hill, NC
Kleuker Organ
Free Admission
Audience is welcome to bring a lunch to eat during the recital.
For more information:
Dr. Wylie S. Quinn, Chapel of the Cross/919-929-2193, ext. 23
vquinn@thechapelofthecross.org
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Neuropsychiatric Research institute
News
“The reason business is involved
is because we get the end product,”
he said.
“We want to show these stu
dents what it’s going to be like to
come work for us.”
Dropout rates vary across the
five-district region. The CHCCS
district graduates more than 99
percent of its students, while
Durham Public Schools and
Orange County Schools have
dropout rates approaching 6 per
cent.
The discrepancy also is reflected
in other statistics. Ninety percent
of CHCCS students meet the
requirements to enter the UNC
system, while only about 63 per
cent in Durham Public Schools
and Johnston County Schools meet
the requirements.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
Working as promoters for Adult
Swim, Cartoon Network’s late
night collection of programs for
more mature audiences, Adam
Geller and Will Moore entered
their student marketing gig look
ing for entertainment rather than
resume-building.
“I looked at the job, and I
thought, ‘Working for Cartoon
Network can’t be anything but
fun,’” Geller said.
Both students said they got
involved with the program because
of an interest in the brand rather
than the field. But Geller, a senior
in the School of Journalism and
Mass Communication, said he can
use the people skills he’s learned as
a promoter, making his work more
than just a fun job.
“Anyone with an interest in get
ting up from their chair and going
and getting people has the chance
to do something like this and gain
some life skills,” Geller said.
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.
Md. delegates
OK tax hike to
aid universities
BY KAVITA PILLAI
STAFF WRITER
In a move that addresses the
state’s steep tuition increases,
members of Maryland’s House of
Delegates voted to increase corpo
rate income taxes and devote the
extra revenue to higher education.
The bill, which passed the lower
chamber of Maryland’s General
Assembly 80-60 last Monday,
would increase the state’s corporate
income tax from 7 percent to 7.9
percent and could add fuel to the
debate in North Carolina to
increase the tobacco tax.
Tuition for the University of
Maryland system has increased 30
percent during the past two years
and could go up another 10 per
cent by next year. The new revenue
would serve to offset the increase
and reduce it to only 5 percent.
“The state budget should not be
balanced on the backs of public
education students,” said Nancy
Lineman, spokeswoman for
Maryland House Speaker Michael
Busch, who introduced the bill.
“The speaker, I think, and the
House leadership certainly value
higher education and believe it
should be available to any student
who wants to go.”
But increasing the corporate
income tax in North Carolina is
out of the question, some say,
because opposition from the busi
ness sector in the state is staunch.
“The idea of raising corporate
taxes will be vigorously opposed by
the business community,” said Sen.
Elbe Kinnaird, D-Orange.
“They’ve maintained that North
Carolina corporate taxes are too
high and we can’t attract business.”
Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake,
is one of those opponents and
believes that any tax increases,
including a controversial tobacco
tax hike, will further injure an
already hurting economy.
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“The (Maryland)
state budget should
not be balanced on
the backs of public
education students.”
NANCY LINEMAN, spokeswoman
“We have the highest corporate
income tax rate in the Southeast
now, and I don’t see it going up any
more,” said Stevens. “If anything, it
will go down.”
But some, including Rep. Paul
Luebke, D-Durham, say increasing
the cigarette tax would bring in
much-needed revenue.
“By the time the short session
starts in May, North Carolina will
have the lowest cigarette tax in the
country,” he said. “That is an obvi
ous source of revenue.”
If the Maryland Senate passes
the bill and Gov. Robert Ehrlich
signs it into law, $65 million will be
given to Maryland-system schools,
half of the money cut since Ehrlich
took office. Such a move in North
Carolina would be welcome by
many struggling students.
“In general, I think that the
tuition increases have been exces
sive over the last few years,” Luebke
said. “I would prefer to see more
dollars come from the general fund
to help keep state tuition down.”
Closing loopholes in the corpo
rate tax code also would bring in
more revenue but “that’s a harder
sell than the cigarette tax,” Luebke
said.
Regardless, strong opposition to
any form of tax hikes likely will pre
vent this from occurring. “I’m pret
ty cynical that it will go anywhere,
even in Maryland,” Kinnaird said.
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
7