The JETS: Experience Is Back On Campus
By Andrey Nalbantov | Published Nov 17, 2022
Kean University announced that The JETS: Experience course will return for a second spring semester in a row.
Students who have completed 75 credits by the end of Fall 2022 and are majoring in either communication, marketing, graphic design, or management, are eligible to apply for the course.
The course offered as part of the university partnership with the NFL team will offer students the opportunity to have an almost work-like experience in the form of a class.
The Jets will task the students with a problem and require them to solve it. For this upcoming course, students will have to figure out how the Jets can build their fanbase in the United Kingdom.
Students will be divided into teams, simulating and stimulating a competitive environment. At the end of the semester, each team will have to present their solution at MetLife Stadium for the Jets’ management.
The solution involves a mixture of marketing, business management, design, and communication tools. Students will be able to use their individual skills in one of those areas in order to successfully contribute to the final product.
Suzanne Schwab, communications professor, said, “Each team has a task and each student must use their experience from the classroom, internships, and any lectures from the JETS class to help solve the problem.”
Schwab is one of the three professors that teach the course. While Schwab focuses on the communication aspects of the course; Dr. Shweta Singh, the marketing program coordinator, covers the marketing and management aspects of the course, and professor Denise Anderson, is responsible for the designs and brandings.
The course has an interdisciplinary learning environment because it is taught by three professors. The involvement of four disciplines let students experience a dynamic learning setting, in what was an entirely different and new course experience when it was offered last Spring semester.
“The Jets: Experience course was the first experiential-based course of its kind to be offered at Kean University,” Singh said. “Where students worked with a real-life client, The New York Jets, in an interdisciplinary environment.”
According to Schwab, the teamwork that the three overseeing professors had throughout the semester was a key point in the success of the course and the students who took it.
“The synergy between the 3 professors was incredible and it allowed us to guide the students to complete success,” Schwab said. “We offered the energy and the encouragement that the students needed to get to the finish line.”
Each semester the problem that the students face is different. Last spring semester students were given the task to expand the youth market fanbase. Some of the ideas that students had in order to satisfy the need for youth exposure were a digital mascot and a video game studio at the MetLife stadium.
The task for the upcoming Spring 23 course will be to expand the team’s exposure in the UK. In order to work on this task students will have to acknowledge which regions they should promote the marketing platform, and what potential sponsors to attract.
For Saint Mikel White, a senior majoring in Supply Chain and Information Management here at Kean, the course was an experience that helped them with their career goals and gave them an opportunity to understand what are some of the problem-solving skills real-world corporations require. It was also a fun and spontaneous experience with room for creativity.
“The class helped to bring clarity,” Mikel White said. “It was a glimpse into the inner workings of a company that is often not exposed to the public,” White said.
So why should students, especially those who want to go into sports, apply for the course? According to Schwab, this course offers the experience and opportunity to present in front of a professional team.
“Kean University has provided such a wonderful opportunity for these students,” Schwab said. “It’s unreal!”
The now-changed deadline to apply for the course is Nov. 8 in order to let more students register. Prior to that, it was Nov.1. Students who have applied and been chosen will be then interviewed in order to be completely accepted for the course.