Club connects students, industry

Far from the East and West Coast hot spots of entertainment, students at IU interested in the business side of the industry are at a geographical disadvantage. To give Hoosiers a fighting chance in such a competitive job market, the five-year-old Business Careers in Entertainment Club has worked to connect students with industry executives and hosted events on campus.\n"Basically we are the only way for people to get their foot in the door in\nthe entertainment industry," said the club's president, senior Ashley\nMcPherson. "Recruiters in this industry don't come to IU, so we take networking trips to New York and Los Angeles. We bring in guest speakers that members can network with as well."\nThe annual networking trip to New York and the newly established trip to Los Angeles are major selling points for membership, McPherson said. The club leaders work throughout the year to develop contacts with companies to help members network with executives and land internships and jobs. \n"Companies now recognize the BCEC name and see that we are obviously passionate about the industry," she said. "I'm told our resumes are put on top."\nThis year 18 members attended the New York trip, while 11 went to LA. Though the club has only been able to assist with a small amount of the cost, McPherson said she has never heard anyone complain about the expense because of the quality of the experience.\nThe group's Web site, available at www.indiana.edu/~bcec, lists 12 companies that students visited in New York on Jan. 2-6 and seven on a simultaneous trip to L.A. \nA call-out meeting for students interested in the club will take place Monday, Jan. 29, from 8 to 9 p.m. in Room 219 of the Kelley School of Business.\nThose who join pay a $20 annual fee and can get involved with as many of the club's eight committees as they are interested in. Representing different interests within the entertainment industry, students can choose from committees related to television, film, gaming, music, performing arts, publishing, radio and sports. Committee directors research and keep members updated about different internship and job opportunities and organize one event each year. \nThe King of the Court three-on-three basketball tournament is the event organized by the sports committee. This year teams will compete on April 14 at the HPER building basketball courts, which BCEC rents for the event. \nThe title sponsorship for the event this year is a company that was started by the former BCEC member who created King of the Court. Recent IU graduate Matt Kesten also sells the official fan shirt of IU basketball through his company, Hoosier Beat, and will allow teams to register for the tournament online at www.hoosierbeat.com. Kesten said he hopes that over the next 10 years the tournament will establish itself as a tradition, building up anticipation for Little 500. \nKesten said his involvement with the group gave him experience he could not have gotten anywhere else on campus.\n"It really provided me with outlets to do what I wanted to do," he said. "There's no program on campus that really did anything about or taught about the sports industry or took trips."\nLast year BCEC was the third- largest organization on campus; McPherson said there are about 200 active members this year. Still, she said, not everyone has heard about the club.\n"We are growing so fast, yet so many people don't even know about us," she said. "But once people find out about us, they fall in love with the idea"