This year’s American Marketing Association chapter at UTEP made it to the top 25 internationally at the 37th Annual International Collegiate Conference, which is a conference for aspiring marketers.

The conference took place March 19-21 at New Orleans, and served as a learning and inspiring experience for UTEP’s AMA chapter members.

The goal of AMA is to encourage and to motivate students not only to be better at their marketing skills, but also to develop their speaking skills and with resume building.

“We hope to empower and motivate members to succeed in all they do, all while setting a presence not only for themselves but AMA as well,” said Bryan Monje, junior marketing major and vice president of fundraising finance for AMA.

Monje said the collegiate conference rankings will give considerable prestige to the AMA’s UTEP chapter.

“We have established a presence, not only for us but for UTEP, and we are greatly proud of that,” Monje said.

Among the activities that were offered in the conference were different competitions and workshops that helped the members learn about brand management, sales, how to run your own business and marketing strategies.

“This was my third year going to the collegiate conference, but we broke many records here locally and internationally from our chapter,” said Angel Sandoval, junior marketing major and president of AMA. “ We became top 15 of 100 schools in the marketing strategy competition, top 25 out of over 200 schools in annual reports, which is excelling in six different categories involving marketing.”

Apart from the commitment of its members, Edward Ramirez, assistant professor of marketing and advisor for AMA, said it was the creativity of the members that made them stand out in the conference.

“The team positioned the organization as being in touch with the emerging and high-purchasing power Hispanic market segment by dressing up as a jumbo too-hot jalapeño,” Ramirez said. “The performance was so hot that it resulted in the CEO of DHL calling Jorge (AMA UTEP chapter member) to the front of an audience of over 3,000 attendees to congratulate him for his creativity.”

The honors the UTEP chapter won included an honorable mention in the Vitamin Water Case Study Competition, semi-finalists in the marketing strategy competition and a bronze award for being one of the top 25 collegiate chapters at the International Collegiate Conference.

Locally, AMA has participated in different UTEP and El Paso events and fundraising.

“We’re involved in activities ranging from Minerpalooza to charity events, to working with local high schools, where we show students how to create an effective resume,” Ramirez said. “We’re only limited by our imaginations and how we think that we can add value to UTEP and the greater El Paso community.”

The AMA UTEP chapter is currently preparing for their annual officers’ election and for community service and fundraising events, such as the Adolescents to Marketing Professionals (AMP), where AMA students go to high schools and talk about what marketing is and teach them about what marketing can do.

“We will be developing an aggressive chapter plan next year and would like to recruit UTEP’s best and brightest to pitch in,” Sandoval said.

The members recent success at the conference has given them an opportunity to bring more professionalism and recognition to the organization.

“Our organization has been through so many struggles and no recognition, but after many years of hard work and a promise I made to them of getting them recognized, this means the world to us,” Sandoval said.

Fernanda Leon may be reached at [email protected].