By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer, Gracie Savage | LTVN Broadcast Reporter
A group of Baylor students in an advertising campaign class decided to partner up with AC Hotel by Marriott in downtown Waco to provide an opportunity for student organizations to receive funds while helping a local business.
The result? The AC Hotel grant.
LTVN’s Gracie Savage tells you how AC Hotel is opening up opporunities for Baylor students.
Marissa Maguire, general manager for AC Hotel in downtown Waco, said the goal of the class was to partner a group of students with a local business so they could help the business and execute an idea.
Maguire said hotel representatives met with the students to talk about the hotel and business challenges they’ve seen through the process. They then let the students come up with two different pitches to present.
“[The campaign] targets creating a better awareness of our event spaces with Baylor student organizations. [It does] that through a grant application that would allow for them to potentially win some money to put towards their group’s events that they’re hosting or some of their philanthropic efforts,” Maguire said.
The campaign, called “A Place for Everyone,” is meant to highlight the event spaces at the AC Hotel that Baylor organizations can use.
Charlotte, N.C., senior Brandon Clarke is one of the students who helped create the AC Hotel campaign. He said the idea of creating a grant for student organizations came from seeing the success of the Allstate Grant, which was able to fund various student organizations.
Clarke said an email will be sent out to all the student leaders around campus and a Google form will be attached through a link for student organizations to fill out the grant application. Student organization can win one of three prizes.
“First place prize is going to be $2,500 cash to go to any event or initiative that they want to be able to host on campus, while the Marriott executive leadership team will make the ultimate final decision,” Clarke said. “However, with that said, my team back here at Baylor is going to have a say in who’s going to be the winner,”
The second place prize is free venue space. According to Clarke, the AC Hotel has the largest hotel meeting space in Waco and has agreed to give away that space for any organization that wants to host a formal, a gala, a membership event or any other event as their second place prize. The third place prize is a gift basket with different Marriott-related gifts which could be gift cards, free nights, discounts, etc., Clarke said.
Sugar Land senior Luke Dibble is another student involved in the creation of the AC Hotel campaign. He said student organizations will have until Nov. 22 to fill out the grant application and then the Marriott team will make finalist selections. The finalists will then be invited to a large check-awarding ceremony at the Marriott on Dec. 4, where there will be catering and entertainment.
Dibble said his favorite part of being involved with creating the AC Hotel grant has been making the connections with people and getting to see their vision come to light.
“I’d say my favorite part has just been the relational aspect of getting to meet with [AC Hotel management] and build this out and create this, as well as the expectancy — which is another part that I’m excited about — of just seeing who gets to walk away with the prizes and how it’s going to impact the organization that it’s going to go to,” Dibble said.
The AC Hotel opened this past April, and Maguire said its goal right now is to make themselves known and approachable to the Waco community.
“We really do desire to work one-on-one with organizations if there’s a need and if there’s a place that we can help,” Maguire said. “It’s really fun and I think it’s really rewarding to get to work with a group of students and see what they come up with.”
