Pier 601 class creates PSA to advance awareness against sexual assualt

Kristen Burgess, Staff Writer

In charge of UNC Wilmington’s Pier 601 Creative course, Dr. Jeanne Persuit and Dr. Bill Bolduc of the Department of Communication Studies have completed their latest project with the help of their students Called the Seek then Speak public service announcement: a digital aid focusing on victims of sexual assault.

Pier 601 is an Integrated Marketing Communications firm. Housed under the COM Studies department, the firm is completely student-run. In order to obtain a client for the firm, potential clients will do one of two things. Either they reach out to Dr. Persuit or Dr. Bolduc, or the students will propose a potential client to the instructors for approval.

The general experience background of these students includes the areas of marketing, public relations and video production. Given their status as a UNCW course, their services are free. They are operating under an educational facility, and thus cannot be paid for their work. The students who helped developed this project were Chelsea Vassuar, Austin Crouch, Lauren Phelps, Gabriel Moore, Emily Soppe, Kyndall DySard and Laura Rojas.

The Pier 601 course has worked with other organizations this year including Vintage Values, The Forte Institute, Cape Fear Boxing and The Reibman Center, among others. These students were also able to work with local non-profit organizations like Miracle League by way of photography.

For this project in particular, it was Seek then Speak that reached out to Dr. Persuit and Dr. Bolduc about creating the PSA. Created by Ten8Tech, CEO Anthony Formhalls was previously working with an alumni of the COM Studies department when he expressed interest in Pier 601’s involvement with the company’s new application. As he said, “If people prefer a text to a phone conversation with a friend, how are they going to feel when it comes to a tragic and serious conversation about sexual assault?”

In creating the PSA, the student project members honed in on their filming and production skills. On her personal satisfaction with the project, Lauren Phelps says, “I loved the whole filming process. Mainly I’m a marketing student in the Communication Studies Department and so seeing first hand shooting for the PSA was a new and really cool experience.”

Designed to be a tool in helping victims of sexual assault combat their experience, the Seek then Speak PSA allows users to answer a series of questions and discover which option is the best for them. Users can get in touch with an advocate whose job is to help the user through the process. You may chose to go to the authorities, or remain as anonymous as possible.

“Meanwhile, you can remain anonymous as long as you’d like,” The Pier 601 class said. “You are in control of the information you share, who you share it with, and what you want to happen with it.”

The hope for this project is that it will help victims of sexual assault find their voice. As Lauren says, “I think this PSA will allow them to feel more comfortable and may even give them the confidence to say something. I also think it is just informative for the general public of a college campus.”

Visit the website at seekthenspeak.com, and you will be directed to End Violence Against Women International’s homepage.