Article

Fisher Interns Study Advertising and Public Relations

DECEMBER • 1985 SKIP STURMAN '70
Article
Fisher Interns Study Advertising and Public Relations
DECEMBER • 1985 SKIP STURMAN '70

Ellwood M. "Woody" Fisher '6O returned to campus last fall to meet seven of the original recipients of Fisher Grants. At a reception arranged by Career and Employment Services to mark the occasion, seven '85s expressed their collective appreciation for the funding that enabled them to pursue off-campus internships in advertising and public relations.

What Fisher and his mother started as a memorial to his father, Ellwood H. Fisher '21, is now an endowed fund, administered by Career and Employment Services, which is used for a variety of purposes, including the promotion of internship opportunities. Originally established in 1977 as the Ellwood H. Fisher 1921 Fund "to encourage student access to business career opportunities" and to "help individual students in support of America's free enterprise system," the fund is now used to provide modest grants to allow students to take nonpaid internships in advertising or public relations.

Since its redirection in 1982, the Fisher Fund has enabled 18 students to gain practical experience in settings as diverse as the public relations department of Filene's to the advertising department of RochesterWomen magazine. The interns have performed a variety of services for their leaveterm employers, including compiling fact books on the snack food market, acting as "grips" during the filming of TV commercials, and obtaining media coverage for the annual Appalachian Trail Conference.

Invariably, whether the internship involved "making a ton of phone calls to get ad rates" or attending such grand events as the opening of the Marriott/Copley Place in Boston or chauffeuring Magic Johnson's agent around town, the interns have returned to campus enriched and excited about their experiences. As Pamela Gordon '86 sums it up, "My internship has allowed me to get an in-depth view of an agency that I would have been unable to receive from books or in a classroom. It has allowed me to focus my interests and increased greatly my understanding [of advertising]." The success of the Fisher Fund comes as no surprise to noted raconteur Ort Hicks '21, who well remembers an earlier Fisher success story, when two enterprising brothers, stranded in Cleveland en route home during a snowstorm, decided to set up shop there around the turn of the century. By the time Ellwood Sr. arrived in Hanover in 1917, his father had helped build the Fisher Stores into the largest independent food chain in the country. Ellwood Fisher '21 later made a name for himself as well aspresident of his class and then as president of the Alumni Council.

By creating a memorial for his father, Woody Fisher and his mother wished to commemorate "Dad's total involvement with the College." Fisher explains, "Dad wanted something that would carry beyond the College years; so that even if you didn't end up in the particular career that you interned in, you would have had something of lasting value."

The 18 Fisher interns are living proof that education is a sound investment.

A grant established in memory of Ellwood H. Fisher '21 has enabled 18 Dartmouth studentsto take nonpaid internships in advertising or public relations. Some participants in andbeneficiaries of the program are, left to right, Skip Sturman '70, director of CES, RobertLewert '85, Sally Crane '85, Joseph McGee '85, Elisabeth Yates '85, Ernestin Yuille '85,Brenda Young '85, Nancy Fisher, Donna Fraser '85, and Woody Fisher '60.