Congratulations, @cam_herbel
First #BeADragon Social Media Campaign Scholarship Awarded
In a unique social media scholarship program, a Moorhead High School student has been awarded the first of four $2,500 scholarships to attend MSUM. Cam Herbel received the scholarship in MSUM’s #BeADragon social media scholarship program, a campaign that has garnered more than 1,000 tweets since it kicked off. Here’s her award-winning entry.
Entry in the program is simple: prospective MSUM students tweet why they want to “Be A Dragon” on Twitter and a panel of judges picks four tweets that resonate the most. MSUM is also awarding two $1,000 scholarships – one to the entry with the most “likes” and the other to the prospective student with the most retweets.
Cam, who wants to be a teacher, used Twitter to promote a video she created featuring interviews with her most influential Moorhead High teachers. Interwoven with the teacher’s comments, Cam narrates how her teachers have fueled her dream to teach and how she sees Minnesota State University Moorhead as the university to help achieve her dreams.
“I want to become a teacher who influences students like these teachers have influenced me because in order to become a good teacher you need to be shown what good teaching is,” says Herbel. “I want to attend a university that supports teachers who care…teachers like these, and I want to learn this at MSUM.”
“Cam’s entry stood out because you could get a glimpse of her personality,” said Shireen Alemadi, MSUM Community Outreach Coordinator. “You could see that she had strong connections with her teachers at Moorhead High School and that they have truly impacted her life for the better.”
“The #BeADragon competitive scholarships allow us to intentionally recruit students that exemplify our core values of grit, heart and humility, and to meet prospective students in their place in an impactful way,” said MSUM President Anne Blackhurst. “At the same time, for the past 125 years, our University has attracted students that have a little something extra and now that we feel we have identified what that is, we are intentionally finding students who display grit, heart and humility.”
This is the first time the MSUM Office of Admissions has used social media in a scholarship program, capitalizing on MSUM’s growing social media presence to introduce prospective students to the University and its culture. Since its launch, the campaign has garnered over 558,000 impressions, over 1,000 tweets and retweets and engaged nearly 600 different people including prospective students, educators and the campus community.
No stranger to social media, it was Blackhurst who approved live tweeting during graduation ceremonies. When chosen as the 11th president of MSUM members of the campus community created the #annefan hashtag to express their approval. An avid Twitter user, Blackhurst live tweets from various campus and community events, welcomes visitors and prospective students to campus, thanks university partners, and invites students who voice complaints to meet face to face to discuss it.
The $2,500 competitive one-time scholarships are focused on new incoming students that require applicants to have been admitted to MSUM by March 11th and to tweet their message with the #BeADragon hashtag. Learn more about the #BeADragon campaign or call the Admissions Office at 877.678.6463. #BeADragon awards are in addition to a full complement of automatic scholarships the MSUM awards for academic achievement.