On Thursday, November 15, Grady College students participated in the third annual PRSSA Classic City Tour of Athens. Led by professor Kim Landrum, students visited Jackson Spalding, See.Spark.Go and UGA’s Sports Information Office to learn about working with clients, creating relationships and managing reputations.

Brian Brodrick, Alison Geist and Bryan Harris led the discussions at Jackson Spalding and encouraged students to be curious, read and listen to podcasts on a variety of subjects in order to stay relevant. Some of the recommendations included Hillbilly Elegy, Nudge and the How I Built This podcast.

Recent Grady graduates Kaci Pollock and Kelyn Liberty led the tour at See.Spark.Go along with co-founder Brittany Thoms. Brittany discussed the importance of building relationships with clients and focused on the traits they look for when hiring an intern or a full-time employee: character, competence, chemistry, and calling. Another recent Grady graduate, Zach Chatham, was introduced to See.Spark.Go on the Classic City Tour in 2015 and is now a full-time employee working on the Airstream account.

Students ended their day with Steve Colquitt, Associate Sports Communications Director and 1989 graduate of Grady’s Journalism Department. Always a favorite stop on our Tour, Steve shared the intricacies of working with student-athletes who are learning how to present themselves to the public while also juggling daily sports practice and academics.

Landrum organized the free event for PRSSA members in 2015 in order to showcase some of our local talent and learn from Grady graduates who have chosen to make Athens their home. “In three years, we have helped facilitate close to a dozen internships and full-time placements with Athens organizations as a direct result of the Classic City Tour. I am proud to make the introductions and am thrilled when students come back to tell me they got an internship as a direct result of the Tour.”