Today I'd like to put the spotlight on a great opportunity for students who are interested in a career in advertising: the U of M's National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) team, Chariot. Chariot recently won first place at the NSAC District Competition on April 13th, which means the team will be representing the University of Minnesota at the national competition in Phoenix this year! Read on to learn more about NSAC and how you can get involved.

What is the National Student Advertising Competition?
Each year corporate sponsors give the same case study to NSAC teams around the nation. The case studies relate to the company's product or service and advertising situation. The corporate sponsors are often big name companies--past sponsors have included Coca Cola, JC Penney, State Farm, and Nissan. Within each school's team, students are then responsible for researching, developing, creating, and pitching an advertising campaign to a panel of judges at a district-level competition. 

District competitions are held each spring in 15 districts throughout the U.S. The winners of each district then get to move on to the national-level competition and pitch their advertising campaigns to judges and the executives of the sponsor company. We're wishing the best of luck to Chariot when they compete at Nationals in June. Way to represent the University of Minnesota!

Getting involved at the U of M
Joining a student group can be one of the best ways to make your college experience a great one. If you're interested in advertising, joining Chariot can help you make friends and connections with other advertising and marketing students, network with professionals, gain relevant advertising experience, and make a difference in the advertising strategies of real companies!

Chariot doesn't only limit its members to students majoring in advertising. The club currently has students interested in marketing and graphic design as well. If you think you'd be interested in joining Chariot, you should definitely check out their website at http://umnsac.com or email them at nsac@umn.edu.

A very exciting event just took place this past weekend: the 45th Annual College of Design Senior Fashion Show: Flux. This special fashion show represents the culmination of the apparel design program for senior students, and was also the kick-off for Fashion Week in Minneapolis. Seniors in the program showcased their final works in two runway shows. The show also featured sophomore and junior student works, prior to the senior showcase portion. 

The event took place right on campus at Rapson Hall. The entire show was planned and funded by the design students, who sought donors and sponsors, and worked very hard to put the whole event together. The hard work certainly paid off! The fashion show was a success and had a great turnout, including members of the Twin Cities fashion community and press. 

Photo from the UofMAdmissions Instagram account.

Take a peek at the fashion show finale by viewing our Vine video from the show, and check out at some of the amazing design pieces by viewing the College of Design's Facebook album.

If you're interested in learning more about the apparel design program at the University of Minnesota, or other programs within the College of Design, visit http://www.design.umn.edu. You can also select one of the special design campus visit options by scheduling your campus visit online at http://z.umn.edu/campusvisit, or calling the VISITLINE at 612-625-0000.

The summer 2012 London Olympics was the pop culture event of the year. Of the 530 athletes competing for Team USA, the University of Minnesota represented maroon and gold across several events. Not only in an athletic sense, but behind the scenes as well. We're #UMNProud of these Gophers and alumni!

Kelci Bryandt

Kelci is a synchronized diver who previously finished 4^th in the 3-meter synchronized diving event in Beijing four years ago. After training with Olympic diving coach Wenbo CFhen at the U of M, she was ready for this year's competition. This summer Kelci and her partner, Abby Johnston, won the silver medal in the event.

Lindsay Whalen

As a senior at the U of M, Lindsay led the women's basketball team to the Final Four in 2004. She also holds Minnesota career records in points, scorning average, free throws made, free throw percentage, and games in double figures. She helped the Minnesota Lynx win their first WNBA title last fall, and was chosen for the Olympic basketball team for the first time. We're so proud of Lindsay, who helped lead Team USA to take the gold in women's basketball!

Jillian Tyler

A native of our neighboring country Canada, Jillian was the NCAA champion in the 100-yard breaststroke as a senior at the U of M in 20011, as well as eight-time Big Ten champion and 13-time All American. She earned her second straight trip to the Olympics by placing first in the 100-meater breaststroke at the Canadian Olympic trials.

Hugh McCutcheon

New Zealand native Hugh McCutcheon led the USA men's team to an Olympic gold victory in 2008. He has since coached the women's national team to an 85-37 record in just three years! We are proud to say that Hugh will be coming to the U of M this fall to replace the retiring Mike Herbert.

Amanda Smock

Although Amanda was never a Gopher athlete, she did manage to find time between training sessions to earn her Ph.D. in exercise physiology from the U of M in 2010. After four years of focus and training, she won the triple jump at the U.S. Olympic trials in June.

Barbora Spotakova

As a member of Minnesota's track and field team, Barbora was All-American in 2002 in the javelin and also made it to the NCAA champtionships in heptathlon. Currently, she is the reigning Olympic champion and world-record holder in the javelin. This sumer will be her third time competing in the olympics, representing her native Czech Republic. 

Roberto Sobalvarro

En garde! Roberto has developed and taught several classes at the U of M in both sabre fencing and foil fencing for the last 20 years. He coached the U.S. women's epee team in the individual team competition of the London Olympics. 

Susan Sokolowski

Susan earned her Ph.D. in apparel design from the College of Design here at the U of M. Currently, she works as the senior innovation manager on the Apparel Innovation Team at Nike. The U.S. women's track and field team featured her team's work in London this summer. She has been recognized internationally for her achievements in design and innovation. 

Brock Anundson

After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in sport and recreation management, Brock has been working at the U.S. Olympic Complex in Colorado Springs since January 2011. He works as a programs coordinator/operations specialist, which involves setting up everything that's required for athlete training at the complex- from lodging and meals to training schedules. 

Julie (Schmitz) Miller

CEHD alumna Julie Miller lived in London this summer and worked in the Athlete Village during the Olympic games on behalf of the United States Olympic Committee. If you want to read about her amazing experiences in London, check out her blog!

Join us for a College of Design Sneak Preview this summer and get an inside look at the University of Minnesota! 

If you are interested in the fields of architecture, landscape design and planning, graphic design, interior design, apparel design, retail merchandising, or housing studies, we invite you to come check out one of these exciting events!

The College of Design is an emerging national and international leader in creative production and multidisciplinary research in a wide variety of design fields. At the Sneak Preview, you will learn about our programs, tour our beautiful campus, and meet some of our professors, students, and staff.

To RSVP for a College of Design Sneak Preview, 

please visit http://z.umn.edu/sneakpreview, 

or call our VISITLINE at 612-625-0000 or 1-800-752-0000.

We hope to see you on campus soon for one of these exciting events!

On April 25^th, University of Minnesota students "explored the dark side of fairy tales" with No White, a fashion show featuring the sixteen finalists from a design competition in March. Each designer was paired with a student model, and designers were encouraged to use thrift store finds and incorporate unconventional materials. No white was allowed in the designs. The theme of the event was villainy, murder, passion, and deception.

The fashion show took place was produced by the WAM Collective--the official student group at the U of M which bridges the gap between the Weisman Art Museum and the U of M community. No White was a part of the creative celebration around Ballet Preljocaj's performance of Snow White, presented by Northrop.

Take a look at the photos below, which showcase the work of the U of M's talented design students! 

Photo credit: All photos by Travis Chantar, for the Weisman Art Museum.