What happens when you hand over the reins of a legacy event to a group of passionate, creative, and driven journalism students? You get Mustang Media Fest, a student-centered experience born out of collaboration, innovation, and months of hard work. This year, students in Cal Poly’s Journalism Department were challenged to redesign the foundation of the Jim Hayes Symposium into something that truly reflected the voices and visions of emerging media professionals.

The journey began in JOUR 413 during winter quarter, where students formed teams to pitch their bold ideas to the Journalism Advisory Board. From marketing strategies and programming schedules to detailed style guides, these proposals laid the groundwork for what would become the 2025 Mustang Media Fest. The winning team’s concept evolved into a full-scale production in JOUR 415, a senior project class that functions as a student-run public relations firm. With committees for planning, outreach, marketing, and special projects, the team has worked tirelessly throughout spring quarter to bring the festival to life.

This post pulls back the curtain on the planning process, highlighting the voices and efforts of each committee. From curating engaging panels and recruiting inspiring speakers to designing immersive experiences and building community-driven installations, every element of Mustang Media Fest is powered by students, for students. Hear from the committee managers themselves about the process, the challenges, and the creativity that brought this year’s celebration of media to life.

Planning Committee:

Pictured (left to right): Grace Bender, Kelly Willerford, Skylar Novak, Jennaca Ortiz, Graciana Ratto, Hailey Evans, and Kylee Brown

“The Marketing Committee's main task was to create a comprehensive marketing campaign utilizing multimedia techniques to communicate our festival's message. We used a range of social media platforms catered to specific audiences to share information and updates about Mustang Media Fest. We outlined experiential events to improve attendee engagement and designed a series of proportional materials like posters, stickers, badges, and more to support the goal of the festival vibe.” -Jennaca Ortiz, Marketing Committee Manager

Outreach Committee:

Pictured (left to right): Taylor Phillips, Michael Morrill, Jack Bynum, Olivia Hermann, and Layla Shuman

“The Outreach team’s main focus throughout the quarter was communicating and securing guest speakers for our student-centered programming. The speakers lined up for the event are from the journalism department, other departments on campus, students, alumni and industry professionals who are sharing their experiences from the field with our students! We worked with speakers to create engaging sessions where students are able to learn and apply tips they have learned from speakers. Additionally, our team has worked on creating materials for a media kit, along with blog content to provide the audience a better understanding of what has gone on behind the scenes to create this event. Furthermore, we are working on creating methods to analyze the success of this event in order to help improve it for years to come. The team has worked extremely hard this quarter, and we are extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish.” -Taylor Phillips, Outreach Committee Manager

Special Projects Committee: 

“Throughout the quarter, Graciana has worked on coordinating the Post-It Wall and the Scavenger Hunt. For the Post-It Wall, she has come up with prompts for alumni and students to respond to with a sticky note to inspire others coming to the event. She has organized the set up and display ideas - using color coded Post-Its - students are green, alumni are blue, and professors are yellow. She has organized what the wall will look like and where it will be. Additionally, for the scavenger hunt she worked alongside Je’kob to create posters for participants to find around building 26 with the QR codes where they will fill out google forms to complete the scavenger hunt. Finally, she has detailed the prizes for the winners and participants of the scavenger hunt. Also in the realm of special projects, Je’kob has worked on a scavenger hunt that uses QR codes to be placed around Mustang Media Fest, which students will scan and answer questions through a google form. He has generated question ideas and a layout for the activity, as well as a logistics plan to take place during this summer before the event and set-up details. Olivia has spearheaded the headshot photobooth, reaching out to potential student photographers and officially confirming participation. She has found a space to use for the pop-up, and has allocated funds to the photographer under the condition that they provide essential equipment and process all photos. She has come up with a plan as to how students will receive their headshots post-event, and has coordinated planning and logistics on a schedule for set-up and break time for staff.” -Olivia Hermann, Special Projects Committee Member