Interview With Rachael Reyes, Radiate Respect 2021
Reynolds School of Journalism students launch bid for the national Bateman Competition focusing on civil discourse in society, the Back The Pack team at the University of Nevada, Reno, start the Radiate Respect campaign, aiming to facilitate “Communication Without Canceling.”
The Back The Pack Bateman Team, made up of five UNR Journalism Students, have masterminded the Radiate Respect campaign with the leadership of the account executive, Rachael Reyes, a senior at the University. Reyes touched on her experiences at the University and why she believes the Radiate Respect mission is important to the current political climate, and the students of UNR, during an interview through zoom last week.
Thank you for meeting with me, Rachael! Do you mind just starting off with your journey into the Journalism School, at the University of Nevada, Reno?
I jumped around a lot before landing in journalism (pre-nursing, elementary education, HDFS) but nothing seemed to ever make me feel fulfilled. I was always a good writer and thought, “why not try the Reynolds School?” This led me to taking a bunch of different classes as prerequisites and ending up finding out I really enjoyed PR!
Awesome! So I wanted to have this interview with you today to discuss the Bateman Competition, can you just run-over what this competition is, and why you chose to partake in “the action” and launch the Radiate Respect Campaign?
I’m currently a senior at the journalism school and will be entering the workforce in a couple of months. Given the current climate with the pandemic and the potential obstacles I may face in getting a job, I wanted something that would make me stand out against other applicants. The Bateman Competition is notable in the public relations field and will (hopefully) give me leverage in finding a job. For those that do not know what it is, the Bateman competition is a national case study competition for public relations students to research, plan, implement and evaluate a full fledged public relations campaign. Additionally, the Bateman Competition provides experience that cannot be obtained in any classroom setting. While it is a lot of work, it has allowed me to become extremely proficient in my PR skills.
So there are different case studies that are released for each competition year, can you expand what this years was?
The topic of this year’s competition brief is improving civil discourse in American Society and positioning PR practitioners in a way to do that!
With the topic of Civil Discourse, what lead you to creating the Radiate Respect campaign?
While the topic of this year’s brief is daunting, we decided to approach it by addressing cancel culture and the ways it is debilitating to civil discourse. Radiate Respect is grounded in having an accountability culture, but not with the detrimental effects that cancel culture brings. Cancel culture limits the opportunity to have constructive conversations that enhance civil progress. It doesn’t allow for any growth or education which is why we can teach people alternate methods of communication, such as calling and even calling out. The name Radiate Respect is to remind people to maintain respect in all conversations and any setting.
Is or was there something you are looking forward to, either pre- or post- the competition?
I hope to become a more well rounded PR practitioner and network with important individuals in our community. I also hope to teach people there are alternative methods of communication to canceling.
Are you looking forward to anything in the future of the Radiate Respect Campaign?
Hopefully, if we win the competition the Public Relations Society of America will adopt it as a nationwide campaign! I am also looking forward to making a lasting impact in the Reno community for my last year at UNR. Despite this campaign only running from February 8-March 8th, I hope this will last for a lifetime.
