RFI Student Serviceship 2016 | Nebraska City

Rachel Pettid & Cassie Thornburg Author

12/06/2016 Added

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Nebraska City serviceship

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[00:00:09.369]My name's Rachel Pettid and I had the pleasure
[00:00:11.231]of interning in Nebraska City this summer.
[00:00:14.663]I was at the Nebraska City Economic Development Center,
[00:00:18.196]and so what their main objective is is the attraction,
[00:00:22.319]creation, retention, expansions of businesses
[00:00:24.682]to enhance the quality of life in Nebraska City.
[00:00:27.665]So a lot of what Cassie and I did was
[00:00:31.858]with the tourism sector, and so we got a really unique
[00:00:36.377]opportunity to work with a lot of the lodging,
[00:00:40.271]restaurants, tourism in Nebraska City, and we kinda
[00:00:44.246]went around to the different key players in Nebraska City
[00:00:47.201]and we got to interact with them,
[00:00:49.345]and so we visited different sectors of Nebraska City.
[00:00:53.287]We got to tour the brand-new hospital, was absolutely
[00:00:56.374]beautiful new facilities, the different orchards.
[00:01:00.172]We got to go to all 10 museums, which was really cool
[00:01:02.777]experience as well, you never think a town of about 7,000
[00:01:05.074]would have 10 museums, but they're all so unique
[00:01:07.481]and engaging.
[00:01:09.461]Different dining, lodging, they have the Arbor Lodge
[00:01:12.149]out there and they also have a bed and breakfast
[00:01:14.292]that's very unique and beautiful as well.
[00:01:16.787]Entertainment within Nebraska City.
[00:01:19.774]Nebraska City has so many festivals and a lot of people
[00:01:23.765]know the famous Apple Jack Festival,
[00:01:26.055]which is coming up next weekend, I believe.
[00:01:28.414]So we got to kinda interact with those key players
[00:01:31.533]and really learn about those festivals and what makes
[00:01:33.878]Nebraska City successful.
[00:01:36.782]And then, some of the duties and responsibilities we had,
[00:01:39.634]so our main objective was embarking on a community branding
[00:01:43.646]effort, and this was a effort with Dr. Dipra Jha,
[00:01:48.148]who is in the hospitality department,
[00:01:50.722]and he's amazing professor of tourism, travels all around
[00:01:54.418]the world doing consulting, and he's doing consulting
[00:01:56.648]with Nebraska City tourism and commerce right now,
[00:02:00.507]kind of trying to expand their tourism season,
[00:02:03.446]cause right now, Nebraska City, they're running into
[00:02:05.902]the problem, okay, like start of Arbor Day
[00:02:09.004]through end of Apple Jack is their main tourism season.
[00:02:12.123]So how do we expand that full year and get people
[00:02:14.548]to come full year-round, rather than just saying,
[00:02:16.792]oh, Nebraska City's just Apple Jack.
[00:02:19.232]It was also really unique about Nebraska City,
[00:02:21.346]the team aspect.
[00:02:23.160]Everyone was working towards the same goal
[00:02:25.008]and wants to make this project successful,
[00:02:27.585]so it's amazing to see how everyone kinda rallied
[00:02:29.857]behind this kind of tourism because Nebraska City,
[00:02:33.621]as a hospitality major, it's kinda the holy grail.
[00:02:36.592]There's so much to offer, and so much to market,
[00:02:40.222]and so to kinda maximize on those assets
[00:02:43.737]was really important to our summer servership.
[00:02:46.427]Alright, so some kinda main learning objectives,
[00:02:49.479]projects that we did, first was
[00:02:52.929]the community branding effort, as I mentioned.
[00:02:54.957]Some projects within that was, we really tried to connect
[00:03:01.460]all the different areas of tourism in Nebraska City,
[00:03:04.760]because everyone was kinda working separately,
[00:03:07.232]and so kind of creating a brand for Nebraska City,
[00:03:11.440]and so we developed social media sites,
[00:03:13.917]we kinda maximized on their Facebook,
[00:03:15.779]created a Nebraska City Instagram, a Twitter,
[00:03:18.634]that were all connected and had the central hashtag
[00:03:21.390]of Go Nebraska City, so that everyone in the community
[00:03:25.631]and businesses could really rally behind that
[00:03:28.767]and use that main message.
[00:03:30.842]And then, so with that, one area we worked with was museums,
[00:03:35.662]and so after Cassie and I got to visit all the museums,
[00:03:39.045]we kinda did SWOT analysis with each director
[00:03:41.918]of kind of, okay, what's working with your museum,
[00:03:44.985]what kind of support are you getting for community,
[00:03:47.066]and kinda develop a plan and a comprehensive marketing
[00:03:50.048]strategy where all the museums could work together,
[00:03:53.121]because with 10 different museums, there's a lot of
[00:03:55.117]players involved, and so trying to kinda make that
[00:03:58.748]a comprehensive plan where we could all work together
[00:04:03.104]because they're all working towards a main objective
[00:04:05.726]of attracting people to Nebraska City.
[00:04:10.197]And so another more regional project with that
[00:04:14.106]was called Partners for Progress, and that's with
[00:04:16.714]Southeast Nebraska, it's Otoe County, Richardson,
[00:04:20.000]Pawnee, Nemaha, and I'm forgetting the fifth one,
[00:04:24.221]but basically, they're focusing on four initiatives
[00:04:27.771]of manufacturing workforce, education, entrepreneurship,
[00:04:31.364]and culture and tourism.
[00:04:33.727]And so Nebraska City, being kind of the main hub
[00:04:36.646]in Southeast Nebraska, they were kind of a leader
[00:04:40.620]in those areas, and so it's really cool with culture
[00:04:43.562]and tourism that going to those main Nebraska City
[00:04:46.810]was kinda the leader of those initiatives,
[00:04:49.200]and how do, yes Nebraska City's trying to connect
[00:04:52.205]to larger metropolitan areas, but how do we get
[00:04:54.087]not only Nebraska City but the whole region as well.
[00:04:57.651]And so the next was LB-840 Tourism Funds.
[00:05:00.507]So my boss, Dan Mock, he worked extensively
[00:05:03.063]over the summer with LB-840, and that is basically
[00:05:05.635]a funding tool for local businesses, tourism,
[00:05:09.712]they give grants, loans, to go towards different projects.
[00:05:15.075]And so one of them that was actually very interesting
[00:05:17.104]with the VA Mall, they're trying to revamp that
[00:05:20.931]cause it's along the highway, and people pass it,
[00:05:23.127]and they want that one proposal, they want that to be
[00:05:27.087]kind of the main access point to Nebraska City.
[00:05:29.974]You see that, you see Nebraska City, and it kind of
[00:05:32.072]drives people into Main Street, because as you're passing
[00:05:35.223]Nebraska City, you have to exit to actually go
[00:05:38.190]to Main Street, and so the goal of that is
[00:05:41.378]when you see that, you kinda go in, kinda experience
[00:05:44.529]Nebraska City, directs you to places on Main Street.
[00:05:47.433]And the last one was social media research
[00:05:49.212]towards Millennials.
[00:05:50.764]We did kind of a social media survey of all the businesses
[00:05:56.061]under the Tourism and Commerce registered under there,
[00:05:58.948]and we looked at what social media they had,
[00:06:01.227]if they'd be interested in workshops to develop
[00:06:03.467]an Instagram, Twitter, some of the new social media tools.
[00:06:08.336]And so what we found overwhelmingly was about 90%
[00:06:12.759]had websites, about 75% had Facebooks,
[00:06:16.292]and then probably under 30% had Instagrams and Twitters,
[00:06:19.905]and especially with Millennials, Instagram and Twitter
[00:06:22.496]is so big because it's fast communication.
[00:06:25.875]People are just scrolling through their phones,
[00:06:27.693]they wanna see what's fast, they're not really
[00:06:29.391]taking time to click on things, read through it,
[00:06:31.350]and so after doing that research,
[00:06:34.999]we were given the opportunity to present at Rotary Club
[00:06:38.631]our findings, and kinda explain what each social media
[00:06:41.817]channel is, and what the benefit is.
[00:06:45.513]They're developing an app for Nebraska City
[00:06:47.870]that I think they'll have done by Apple Jack,
[00:06:50.576]that was their hope, at least.
[00:06:52.064]So it has all the different entertainment, lodging,
[00:06:56.167]and such, but then when you're driving along,
[00:06:59.289]it'll ping when something is coming up,
[00:07:01.749]like the Louis and Clark Center will ping
[00:07:03.694]or a different museum it'll ping, so you get alerted
[00:07:07.967]when you're close to those things.
[00:07:09.356]It's really awesome that Nebraska City was so team-based
[00:07:13.325]and was generativity, they care so much about
[00:07:15.257]the future generation, investing them and giving them
[00:07:17.290]the tools and resources, and I was so impressed
[00:07:19.982]how many committees, boards, foundations they have
[00:07:22.766]that invest so much time and money, that keeps it in
[00:07:25.790]the local community was just absolutely amazing.
[00:07:28.215]And so I was really impressed by that.
[00:07:30.327]Kind of along with that, servant leadership.
[00:07:32.949]A lot of people that were retired, they just called
[00:07:36.562]themselves professional volunteers, which was awesome
[00:07:38.858]because they gave so much time and energy.
[00:07:40.887]Cassie and I really learned how to work independently
[00:07:43.686]and have strong initiative with starting up projects
[00:07:47.337]and going to different people in the community ourselves,
[00:07:50.175]startup projects, and so that really was valuable
[00:07:52.982]for career development for me, being able to approach people
[00:07:56.692]and get the resources I need actively
[00:07:59.829]instead of waiting for someone to give them to me.
[00:08:03.324]So it really taught me just being confident and having
[00:08:05.915]strong initiative with that.
[00:08:08.572]It really changed my perspective, too, because
[00:08:10.670]I never had never been to Nebraska City
[00:08:13.588]until the day I moved there, so growing up in a big city,
[00:08:17.781]it really kinda made me re-evaluate what I want to do
[00:08:21.890]for my future plans.
[00:08:23.388]I think I could live in a community like Nebraska City,
[00:08:26.128]especially with the support system and just how
[00:08:28.539]successful they are in rallying behind each other
[00:08:32.925]and the city as a whole.
[00:08:35.055]I think the internship as a whole really helped me
[00:08:37.383]realize what's important when you're looking
[00:08:40.248]for a career, what professional skills you need,
[00:08:43.452]how to act, and how important networking is,
[00:08:46.341]because the people I met are completely amazing,
[00:08:49.361]and I'll now have those contacts for a very long time.
[00:08:52.511]And so, yeah, it was a great internship,
[00:08:56.654]and I was really excited to be able to intern
[00:08:59.409]in Nebraska City, and I'll definitely be back.

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RFI Student Serviceship 2016 | Nebraska City

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