DIRECTOR OF MEDIA RELATIONS KU DANCE MARATHON (KUDM) Jami Bechard

Can you describe to me what KUDM is and what their purpose is? Well, we support KU pediatrics, our local children's miracle network hospital. So basically our main goal is to connect the Lawrence community and the KU community together with the kids who have these illnesses and make life better for them and their family through financial and moral support. Our main annual event is the marathon, it's 12 hours of standing, no one sits for 12 hours, and it's our way of saying, "we stand for those who can't". We work throughout the year to plan the marathon as well as other smaller events. This year, the marathon is on November 9th and we have our goal of $150,000 for the year. Hopefully we can blow right past that.

So you're on the board at KUDM, can you describe what being a board member entails, what your job is, and what that means? I am the Director of Media Relations. There are 13 members of the steering committee. There’s a main director, executive director, three exec member and the 9 steering directors. we all have a very specific job under media relations. I'm in charge of anything PR, advertising or technology. That entails the design of advertisements that get sent out, I handle the Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I handle talking with news and student organizations to spread the word about KUDM.

Now is a board member a semester position, or are you on the board until you graduate? No, I was hired in January. They start the application process in December. I found out I was hired when we came back from Christmas break. I'll work up until the marathon in November and then I'll have to reapply to be a student director again, on the executive board or another position, but I have to reapply.

How did you get involved with the board? Were you volunteering for them, were you part of the marathon or did you have connections at KUDM? Well, I did the marathon this past november with the Alpha Chi team, they wanted people to participate, I didn't really understand what it was. I thought it was me dancing around and I thought, "That looks like fun!" I didn't even understand it was a fundraising event or had to do with this thing I'm super passionate about which is Children's Miracle Network, and that's like the coolest cause ever. When I went, I was so inspired. I met with some of the kids and their families, and watched them. They have one day out of the whole year that they get so excited about where they don't have to worry about hospital tests or treatments or IVs, they just get to be a kid for a day. I was super excited about it and noticed a flyer that said, "Wanna get involved?" So I applied!

I was wondering do you think having a passion for the people your organization is helping is a huge part of being a part of an organization and important to have if you're going to work for a nonprofit? Yeah, I mean you have to be excited about who you're working for. Everyone always says nonprofits don't have a lot of money. I don't get paid to work for them, I have to be excited about what we do. Every week we have a student meeting, and we start out by remember its for the kids, FTK. It's a good reminder to get to see the kids throughout the year and be reminded of why you're spending hours a week on this.

About how many hours do you devote a week to KUDM with meetings and deadlines, etc. ? I have nine committee members, I have one of the smaller committees. I have 3 separate committee meetings each week that I meet with each my design staff, film staff and a pr staff. I meet with them throughout the week and it just kind of depends. This week I'm working on a monthly newsletter and designing our sponsorship packet and an Ad for an upcoming event in may. Our PR people are always contacting out news organizations, things like that. It just depends on the week. I'm always ing and in contact with all the different parts of the committee.

I know you've done the marathon once already, do you have a favorite memory from that or do you have a memory from a different event you can share? The marathon was so amazing; I'm so excited to do that from the position of a board member now. When i found out I got hired, that was so exciting! I'm the only freshman on the board and that is so exciting to me. I had never even been on a committee and other people got turned down. I had no idea what KUDM was like, didn't even understand the concept. It's really interesting because my position of media director didn't exist last year. It was three separate directors, so i get to kind of take it and do this all on my ow, which is kind of exciting. I'm not following some fabulous senior. I get to start my own thing. Just being a leader in this is so cool and the people I work with are some of my best friends.

So after working with KUDM for a while now, do you think this is something you'll continue to do throughout your years at KU and turn into a possible career? Yeah, oh definitely. There’s kind of a ladder with the organization and I'm going to see how it goes. I have no idea how it'll end up, but I know I want to be on the committee for the next three years of college. I've started looking into other things past college. I love what I'm doing right now and I think it would be so cool to find a cause I really am passionate about and do what I'm doing now in the real world and get paid for it!

If KU students want to get involved at KUDM, how do they do that? We have an application process that starts in January. It starts right after the Marathon in November. You can go on our website to either be on a committee, which is working for separate departments in the organization working for different directors. There's all sorts of different things you can a committee member for hospital relations, where you're working with the kids, that's your whole job. Or you can work with sponsorship talking to different businesses around Lawrence to raise money. There’s so many different things! But after the marathon is when we start hiring again.