CHS DECA Students Earn Top Ten International Spot With CIC’s Green Feats and Needs
(CAMERON, MO—May 9, 2008) -- When Cameron Insurance Companies forged the path to a paperless environment, they knew they were ahead of the curve. Scanning and storing millions of documents increased productivity and decreased bottom-line expenses.
The benefits to the environment, however, were spotlighted by a pair of Cameron High School DECA students, and became the focal point of their international award-winning presentation.
Steven Lammers, son of Cameron City
Administrator Phil Lammers and his wife Sarah, and Sarah Curtis, daughter of CIC
employee Brad Curtis and his wife Becky, chose CIC as their project in the
2007-2008 DECA marketing students’ competition. They became the only Missouri
team competing in the written research project to place in the top 10 at the
international competition in Atlanta, Georgia last month.
Under the leadership of Stephanie Williams, Cameron High School’s business and marketing teacher and DECA sponsor, Lammers and Curtis took on the 2008 challenge of preparing and presenting a green (environmentally friendly) marketing campaign. Challenged to identify a local company and their green efforts, they were to propose additional ways the company could improve their environmental impact. Lammers and Curtis worked with Executive Vice President Dick Kline and Mail/Imaging Supervisor Judy Bowen to understand CIC’s paperless environment.
“We want to lead by example in minimizing the “carbon footprint” of our business operations,” said Kline.
Identifying the proactive efforts of CIC was easy. Community surveys, however, revealed that few knew of CIC’s paperless environment, and that it was important to educate the customers and public of their positive impact.
Saving paper and recycling aluminum for such a large organization in a small town was an obvious positive effort. But the research and further suggestions of the young marketing students was what impressed the judges.
A 30-page document with CIC’s history, insurance products, and research included surveys and interviews, and resulted in a public relations campaign to make the community more aware of environmental issues. They built the proposed campaign around the Independence Day celebration in Cameron, and utilized the city’s three major communications outlets: the newspaper, radio station, and website.
Recommendations they proposed to CIC included replacing traditional lighting and toilets with compact fluorescent lights (CFL) and ultra-low volume (ULV) toilets, among other alternative appliances and practices. Note: CIC had already replaced the lighting in their offices. This information was not readily available to the students.
“What was important for us to show was that it improved the bottom line for the company,” said Curtis. “But we also had to look for other ways to help the environment and improve the company’s (environmental-friendly) image (to the employees, public, and customers).”
Often isolated from the inner workings of a company in a large city, and working with the resources of a large metropolitan area, the Cameron DECA students have both advantages and disadvantages in these competitions.
“It’s often difficult to get the judges to understand that we are in a small town,” explained Williams, who is in her ninth year of sponsoring DECA at Cameron. “We are one of the smallest schools that compete, and they (the judges) often just don’t understand that the culture is different.”
But it is that small town culture, the accessibility to business and community leaders, and the support shown to the local schools, that Williams believes made the difference.
Cameron Insurance Companies’ President/CEO Darwin Copeman is serving his second term on the Cameron School Board.
“I listened to Steven and Sarah explain their project at a school board meeting prior to the international competition,” stated Copeman. “I was not only impressed with their project, but also with their articulate and well-prepared remarks.
“Cameron is fortunate to have students that are so focused on making a difference,” he said.
This interactive engagement got the attention of the judges.
“At the end of the presentation, one of the judges asked if the company had taken any of the suggestions,” explained Williams. “When they were able to tell them that the president of the company was also on the school board, and he listened to their recommendations,” she continued, “I think that’s what nailed it.”
Lammers and Curtis will be honored at the Governor’s Mansion with their parents later this month. Their accomplishments mark an important experience in their young lives and careers. Sarah plans to pursue a marketing degree in college, and Steven is considering a degree in environmental engineering.
“CIC is proud to have participated as a vehicle in their learning experience,” stated Darwin Copeman.
In the 38 years that DECA has been in the Cameron School District, they have entered the international competition 34 times. Cameron Insurance Companies has rarely been the focus business of a DECA project, Williams explained. The kids tell her, ‘It’s just too big.’
“Size is relative,” Copeman emphasized. “We may be a large employer in Cameron, but we will never be too big to assist the community’s greatest asset – our young people.”