Patrick McElhiney began studies in Business Administration at Modesto Junior College. He was unanimously elected CEO of Innovative Marketing, an MJC Student Organization consisting of 23 students who acted to raise the awareness of Chevrolet vehicles throughout Modesto. With a population of more than 260,000 residents, advertising to Modesto included three separate interviews of McElhiney on live Cable Television news - KAZV TV14, a television commercial at Modesto Junior College's internal TV network, the Modesto Bee, and the MJC school newspaper.
Patrick McElhiney learned how to conduct marketing research through the real business established in his marketing class at MJC. He had surveys passed out to a sample size of students, before the event that was held at the campus in front of the cafeteria. There was also a survey taken after the event had ended. The before and after surveys gave McElhiney's team proof that their work made a positive difference at the school. The data from the surveys was entered into Microsoft Excel, and charts were created based on the totals. A follow-up database was also created from event submission forms that the students had to fill out to get their free entry into the event which included free food. This follow-up database provided the client with sales leads that they used post-event.
Pre-event and post-event research indicated a 37% increase in awareness of Chevrolet vehicles among Modesto Junior College Students as a direct result of the marketing team's work. The project rose over $7,000.00 in donations, in addition to a $1,500 initial investment. McElhiney did most of the work to prepare a direct mailer to over 1,700 businesses, USPS including bulk-mail sorting. There were over 1,000 attendees at "Party in the Park - A Spring Extravaganza" on April 17, 2003, including a representative from Senator Jeff Denham's office who was a star singer in the American Chevrolet "Idle" karaoke event. McElhiney managed 4 departments - Accounting, Advertising, Public Relations, and Research. McElhiney designed numerous advertisements and research surveys, in addition to providing professional printing services through his own company - MCE123.
McElhiney also studied bookkeeping and accounting while attending MJC, and received training to use Peachtree and QuickBooks accounting software. McElhiney developed cross-platform accounting software skills with additional experience using Microsoft Money, Quicken, and TaxCut. He learned how to establish accounts by project and/or client, keep GAAP accounting records, and produce corporate financial statements for both Financial and Managerial Accounting.
Kurtis Clark - Recommendation Letter. Modesto Junior College (2003, April 23).
(2003, April). Patrick R. McElhiney on Channel 14 - "Party in the Park". KAZV TV14. Modesto, California.
(2003, April). "Party in the Park, A Spring Extravaganza" Modesto Junior College Marketing Class - American Chevrolet. Modesto Bee. Modesto, California.
