Deep down, I thought we would return to campus after spring break. I thought that this virus would miss us, like when the weatherman gets the forecast wrong. I was hoping things weren’t going to end up the way they were being predicted. But here I am, coming to you from my mom’s house in Martinsburg, West Virginia, where I will be finishing my undergraduate work instead of on campus in Morgantown. BrandJRNY is not intended to be done online; it requires face-to-face communica

Hi! It’s me, again. I’m still Hannah, and I’m happy to report that I’m still enjoying my position as Brand Manager for BrandJRNY’s #BrandPointPleasant project, despite the challenges thrown our way lately. As you all know, day-to-day life looks a little different for everyone these past few weeks. This is especially true for BrandJRNY. I haven’t seen my team in-person in weeks, and we haven’t been to Point Pleasant since our Brand Launch, the first week of March. I think I ca

There is nothing more empowering than working closely with a group of women towards a common goal. There’s always someone to lean on and get some much-needed encouragement from. While it’s empowering, it has also been intimidating at times. Over the past three months, I have second-guessed myself or sometimes felt like I could never compare to my teammates. And to top it off, I’m the youngest of the pack. Being the youngest isn’t new to me, however. In my family, I am the bab

The fall of my senior year at WVU’s Reed College of Media started me on a path with BrandJRNY that will always stick with me. As a member of the fall team, we were eager to begin the research that would eventually lead to change in Point Pleasant with new creative imagery, such as the new logo, slogan, color scheme, as well as visual and digital advertisements. After visiting Point Pleasant and getting to know the community members, I realized I needed to see this campaign th

BrandJRNY and Point Pleasant ⁠— thank you. Thank you for pushing me to grow in ways I didn’t think was possible, professionally, and personally. Over the past 16 weeks, I’ve been lucky enough to be apart of a real-world project that was going to make a change in a West Virginia community. As a born and raised Appalachian woman, this campaign became very close to my heart, and unfortunately my first semester with Point Pleasant is coming to an end. My name is Adrianne Uphold,

To say not to judge a book by its cover is perhaps too obvious of a cliche to use for a reflective blog; however, it’s very applicable to my time with BrandJRNY. Four months ago, I was living in a pop-up camper in southern West Virginia, playing in rivers and making fancy cocktails for a living. However, since May of 2019, I had been dreading even the whisper of the word “capstone.” Academia is a passion of mine, but the looming responsibilities associated with the uttering o

When I was a kid, my father told me a story about the infamous winged, red-eyed creature that lurked around Point Pleasant, West Virginia. As a native West Virginian and someone who always had an unusual interest in the unknown, I immediately obsessed over the tale. I begged my dad to put on The Mothman Prophecies for weeks on end. I’m sure after the sixth time watching my dad was ready for his daughter to get over this phase. I never did. Fast forward to September 21, 2019.