Greenville-Spartanburg Airport Disaster Drill
Communication students and faculty (and a few other Upstate folks) participated in a press conference as part of a training-focused mock emergency at GSP in early October.
Students served as members of the press corps for the communications division at GSP, asking questions relevant to the mock disaster and making notes of the answers provided by the communications professional.
Participation in this event gave students a taste of real-world communication work and added meaning to the press conference by providing an audience with motivation to ask authentic questions and attend closely to the answers.
At the close of the press conference, the full communications team shared with students about professional communications in airport settings and more generally. Again students had the opportunity to ask questions. This time from their own personal perspectives and about their intended career field. GSP staff emphasized the need for career competencies reflected in our SL/CE SLOs, including critical thinking, teamwork, and professionalism.
Attending students were invited to submit articles covering the event as part of a competition. Articles were judged by Communications faculty and Courtney Vance’s article (see below) won the competition.