A compilation of writing samples and PR pieces

1. A compilation of writing samples and accomplishments By: Jenna Engstrom My Public Relations Portfolio

6. Traditional Press Release Jenna Engstrom Writing for Public Relations Professor Finkel December 10, 2009

8. SEO Version of Press Release Jenna Engstrom Writing for Public Relations Professor Finkel December 10, 2009

9. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT : Jenna Engstrom 309/737-5650 [email_address] GREEN SHOES WITH A COLOR CHANGING TWIST SOON TO HIT THE MARKET ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY “CHAMELEON KICKS” TO BE LAUNCHED ONLINE ST. LOUIS, Oct. 1, 2009 — Chameleon Kicks Co. will launch its new eco-friendly , color changing shoe line on its Web site Saturday, October 17. The interactive Web site allows individuals to design their own green shoes with images that will appear and disappear with changes in temperature. “ Chameleon Kicks Co. has given us a unique opportunity to re-energize the public about the environment through an interactive green shoe ,” said CEO Michelle Lewis. “We are proud to introduce our new product, and we’re confident that it will revolutionize the way people look at footwear.” Made out of all recycled material , this eco-friendly product strives to be a reminder that everyone has a responsibility to future generations. The images that appear on shoes in temperature-sensitive color-changing ink will include classic environmental symbols such as plants, animals and other representations of nature. The Chameleon Kicks Web site will include interactive eco-games for children as well as fun facts about the environment. Other tabs will include a fact page on how the color changing leuco dyes work as well as simple ways that we can keep our Earth green . There will also be a link to a page that explains the process of how the color changing dyes work. Chameleon Kicks Co. has done extensive research to make sure that its leuco dyes are 100% eco-friendly and do not use any harmful chemicals. Lewis said that the goal of the company is to distribute a product that is not only innovative and exciting for children, but also serves as a tool for teaching them about the impact they can have on the world around them from a young age. On the inside of every shoebox there will be a different fact about the environment including geographical facts about how global climate change affects other parts of the world. As kids learn to navigate the newly launched Web site, they will learn about the ecosystem along the way. Chameleon Kicks are made in the U.S. with the primary warehouse based in St. Louis. Shoes will be sold in limited shoe stores located in Missouri, Illinois and various locations throughout the Midwest starting November 1. Prior to the official in-store release date, these green shoes will be sold online at www. chameleonkicks .com . # # #

10. Feature Article Learning Upstream

11. I had never seen a stop sign wrapped with teddy bears and decorated with ribbons before coming to St. Louis. The image will haunt me forever. My freshman year at Saint Louis University I decided on a whim to get involved with a tutoring program for inner city kids. It was just another community service activity to add to my resume…until I saw my first teddy bear stop sign. And then another, and another. We were driving into the North Side, a part of town known for its gang activity. We passed three memorials for children who had recently been killed in gang crossfire. Imagine witnessing your 7-year-old best friend bleed to death in front of a bus stop. Innocence does not last long in the North Side. I hadn’t met a single child yet, but suddenly tutoring became more to me than a resume builder. We pulled up to our destination in the dented church van with duct tape windows. A weathered Catholic church loomed ahead, eerie in the dusk shadows, the windows barren of any ornamental design. I asked the pastor and leader of our modest group where the stained glass was. He said those windows were sold along with the pews in the abandoned church. Apparently red dye in stained glass windows is often made with melted gold. “ Good thing most people don’t know that, or these windows would have been stolen long before they were ever sold,” he told me casually. I wondered if it would be safe enough for us to cross from the church van into the church in this neighborhood. The church windows were dirty, and some were smashed in. I was scared and oddly excited. The basement door to the church was propped open with a block of wood, and the noises of chaos inside leaked into the night air through the propped door. We entered, and without introduction were encouraged to pick a table and start helping the kids, ages K-12, with their homework. There were 40 of them and ten of us. “ Don’t take it personally if they aren’t receptive right away,” a tutoring veteran warned me. “Your first time can be difficult.” I brushed the warning aside but quickly found that I should have taken it more seriously. My first student’s name was Tanaya. She didn’t like to talk. I was informed that most of the students came for the free food and fellowship and suffered through the homework as a consequence. As I introduced myself and tried to show Tanaya how to do her multiplication problem, she wouldn’t look me in the eye. I could tell she had tuned me out, and eventually she put her head down and turned away. I felt inadequate. I wanted to help so badly but I couldn’t even get through to my first student. Everything I said to her fell on deaf ears, and tears welled up in my eyes. I blinked them back, embarrassed, before anyone could see, and tried helping another student until it was time for dinner. Jacob was in 7 th grade and couldn’t read words with more than two syllables. We sounded them out together and struggled through the homework. I couldn’t imagine being in 7 th grade and not being able to read fluently, but he was an average student in his class. “ My teacher tries to get me to read out loud in class but I pretend I don’t hear her, and she calls on someone else. I hate reading,” he said. I smiled and calmly explained that I’m not his teacher, and we would finish his assignment together. He continued to sound out the words reluctantly. I had a lot to think about on the way home that night. It was a crash course on inner city politics and lifestyles that I knew nothing about. How could the teachers pass

12. these students from grade to grade without noticing that they couldn’t read or do basic math? Over the course of my freshman tutoring experience I would come to learn the names of all 40 kids, and some would even open up to me. Their stories were often tragic, but some were hopeful. I wondered how many would ever make it to college. I remember one girl very distinctly. Her name was Xai, and she wanted to be a writer. “ Can I bring you my stories to read next time, Miss Jenna?” My response was of course an enthusiastic yes. She didn’t come back the next week, though. She left to live with her aunt in a different part of the city and changed school districts. I still think about Xai and her stories from time to time. She had a fierce spark of ambition that gave me hope for the rest of the children. I was so profoundly impacted by the kids I tutored that I continued to tutor inner city students throughout the rest of my college career, culminating in a job with the Salvation Army as a full time counselor this past summer. We started a reading program and ran into the same old problems, but with a little patience we discovered just how much these overlooked children actually wanted to learn. Many of them had a keen sense of self-awareness and knew that they should be learning more than they were taught in class. I was helping a student with his homework during my volunteer time with the Salvation Army in the fall when his brother peeked over our shoulders. “ Man! How come we learning the same things in my class that my brother’s learning now? I’m three years older!” His observation was more astute than he realized. Four years of college affect everyone in a different way. For some, college is a trial-and-error experience of how to drink oneself as close to the brink of death as possible at a frat party without actually crossing over. For others, it’s a lesson in time management and becoming acquainted with every 24-hour coffee shop within driving distance. For me, it was something a little more unconventional. I threw myself into a world where few ever get to experience the college culture. I experienced the trials, the heartaches, and the hopes of the forgotten children of inner city St. Louis, and they changed my life forever.

13. Opinion Editorial The Forgotten Jive of St. Louis Link to Article in Saint Louis University Newspaper This year, PR club chose to team up with the Sheldon Concert Hall in an effort to raise awareness on SLU’s campus and abroad about the jazz series being held at the concert hall. After attending one of the concerts in their jazz series, I wrote an article emphasizing the importance of jazz in St. Louis’s heritage and encouraging SLU students to attend one or all of the rest of the concerts in the jazz series. My commentary was published in the University News in January of this year.

14. Jazz music is quickly becoming just another homeless soul to haunt the streets of St. Louis. A genre that used to have a secure place in every cool club in town has become nearly obsolete. Sure, we pay tribute with the Big Muddy Blues Festival once a year, and there is a spattering of clubs and performance halls that feature jazz artists, but the following isn’t there anymore. I went to a bar known for its New Orleans flare last weekend. The fried alligator was to die for, but the live band disappointed me with its rock covers…nothing at all like the sweet tones of classic big band jazz that I would expect from a restaurant that’s trying to pull off the flavor of New Orleans. Jazz is American, and jazz is beautiful. When it started becoming popular in the early 20 th century, jazz music finally gave a voice to those who didn’t have one. It could be soulful, upbeat or controversial, and it didn’t see the color of anyone’s skin. Everyone was welcome. In 1926, a musical legend was born to this city who would later be known for his passion, his sound and his ability to literally see the music he played. Miles Davis said that he could see distinctly different colors for each chord that he heard. Every day in the St. Louis History Museum he can be heard explaining the phenomenon of playing the notes of the rainbow. Sadly, although the tribute may be flattering, he never would have wanted his memory to live alone in a museum. As if predicting his own fate, Miles Davis was once quoted saying, “I never thought that the music called ‘jazz’ was ever meant to reach just a small group of people, or become a museum thing locked under glass like all other dead things that were once considered artistic.” He wanted his legacy to live on through his music and his passion to live through the musicians who play to keep jazz alive today. Before last weekend, jazz was nothing for me to be particularly passionate about. I’ve always enjoyed the unusual beat, but my bitterness runs deep with the genre. After all, it’s tough being an overeager high school band geek whose band director says that clarinets don’t belong in jazz band. (Benny Goodman would roll over in his grave.) I know, after seven years I should probably have let that one go. But this last weekend I did let it go, and I had the opportunity to see an incredible live jazz trumpeter perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Nicholas Payton, suave and cool in his pinstripe suit, face shadowed by his fedora, played a show that gave me chills and reminded me of how much I love jazz music. My favorite part of the night, however, wasn’t the music. It was seeing a father and son bonding over one jazz trumpeter. Both were dressed in the same style of black suit and fedora that Payton sported, and the boy couldn’t have been more than nine years old. In an age that perpetuates a kind of unrefined rap culture through baggy clothes, white gold chains and violent, sexually explicit lyrics, this kid’s father brought him to a jazz concert and gave him an experience that not many city youth get the opportunity to have. The combination of music, atmosphere, and presence of his dad created a very memorable night for the boy who looked like he could be a young Nicholas Payton himself. It’s time to bring jazz back home to St. Louis and make this city bright and exciting again. The closest I’ve come to reinventing what I imagine to be St. Louis during the jazz era is Beale Street in Memphis. A mix of jazz and blues pours out of the bars and onto Beale Street every night to recreate a moment in time when music took talent and had flavor. Although I can’t speak for any of the jazz and blues clubs throughout St. Louis, I hope to experience them soon. I can speak for my experience at the Sheldon Concert Hall, however, and their jazz series could be part of a movement to show this city what it has forgotten. With

15. Eliane Elias, the Cyrus Chestnut Trio, and Steve Tyrell all coming up starting in January, I plan to repeat my experience at the Sheldon and encourage everyone else to do the same. Located on Washington Street, it’s a short walk from the Saint Louis University campus and the Fox Theater. Let’s support jazz music and bring some rhythm and class back to St. Louis.

16. Additional PR Work Included here is a press release from my public relations internship at the Saint Louis Science Center along with three radio public service announcements for a Rams charity event.

17. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For further information, contact: March 20, 2008 Beth Bishop McClure Saint Louis Science Center 314.289.1455 or 314.267.9916 [email_address] DINO EGG HUNT AT SAINT LOUIS SCIENCE CENTER OFFERS CHANCE TO MEET “SUE” IN CHICAGO ST. LOUIS – First Fridays at the Saint Louis Science Center continue with a free Dino Egg Hunt on Friday, April 3. Participants may search the Science Center for hidden dino-sized eggs with fabulous prizes inside. With the exhibition A T. Rex Named Sue coming to a close on April 12, the Dino Egg Hunt will serve as a farewell to the cast of the largest, most complete and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex ever found. “ Friday, April 3, is one of the last chances for visitors to see Sue, and we wanted to offer a little extra fun during the final days,” said Brad Nuccio, senior vice president of the Science Center. “This is a twist on the traditional egg hunt. We’ll honor the discovery of Sue by encouraging our visitors to make some discoveries of their own.” The egg hunt headlines the second First Friday at the Science Center . The oversized eggs will be “hidden” throughout the building, including the James S. McDonnell Planetarium, so hunters can explore the museum while searching. In addition to a trip for two to Chicago to see Sue the T. rex ’s real skeleton, visitors may also discover a free birthday party at the Science Center, free Science Around Town trips, a free week of Summer Science Blast camp, two free spots on a spring Amazing Challenge , free Science Center memberships , discount coupons and more. The hunt begins at 6 p.m., is free, and participants may roam the Science Center until all the eggs are found or the museum closes at 9:30 p.m., whichever comes first. More information about the hunt and First Fridays is available at slsc.org # # # Trademarks: Thank you for your interest in covering the Saint Louis Science Center. We ask that you include the full names of our institution: Saint Louis Science Center, OMNIMAX  Theater, and James S. McDonnell Planetarium when writing your story. Saint Louis Science Center The Saint Louis Science Center is one of the top five science centers in the United States, serving 1.2 million visitors annually. Recently named one of the “10 Best Science Centers for Families” by Parents magazine and one of “America’s Most Visited Museums” by Forbes Traveler Magazine , - the only museum in Missouri to be named to either list - the Saint Louis Science Center complex includes a four-story OMNIMAX® Theater, the air-supported EXPLORADOME and the James S. McDonnell Planetarium. The center’s mission is to ignite and sustain lifelong science and technology learning.