“Just The Bruin Way!” is the slogan that helps Rachel Rowan strive for perfection at her new job as the director of media relations for the Salt Lake Community College Athletic Department.
As the person in charge of all the media for the athletic department, Rowan strives to build a professional environment.
“I do all of the press relations; I do everything from the promotions to the music that is performed in the arena,” she explains.
Promoting a successful program
Part of her job is to create public awareness for Bruin Athletics and what it has brought to the community.
“We are one of the top notch schools in the nation,” Rowan says. “We have been recognized on a national level, which has been fantastic for the sports teams and a good thing for the school as well.”
“SLCC has gotten press reviews from the [Salt Lake] Tribune, Deseret News and Good 4 Utah,” Rowan continues. “Good 4 Utah came in last year when the softball team was ranked the No. 1 team in the nation at the close of the season. Having that press in the valley has been huge for us.
“Our volleyball team ended the season at No. 6, our women’s basketball team [recently] moved into number three in the nation [as SWAC champions], and [the men’s basketball team] just clinched the Region 18 championship.”
Sanctioned sports
While adding new sports to the department is always a possibility, Rowan explains the various reasons why it is difficult to do.
“For me the sky is the limit! But it takes a lot to sanction a sport; it’s not an easy thing. Everybody says you only have five sanctioned sports.
“It’s a lot [to consider] … you have to think about the conference, you have to think about money, you have to think about budgets … who are you going to play, where are you going to play?
“It’s a hard concept to sanction a sport, so the way I look at it, we should look at new opportunities to continue to grow our [existing] athletic department.”
Reaching out
One of the ways Rowan gets public attention is by providing discount tickets to the high schools in the area.
“I want to get more students involved,” she says. “If you are a younger student [who] came from a high school with very strong athletics going on all of the time, why do you have to lose that?”
Because SLCC offers free tickets to the campus community, non-traditional students get to enjoy an affordable night out at the ball game.
“We have the same thing [at SLCC]. If you are an older student and have a family, great! You can bring you, your husband and your kid for a really inexpensive and entertaining night for the whole family to enjoy.”
“Just The Bruin Way!” is more than a slogan
Rowan also mentions that before the arena doors open, she takes the time to run the intro videos to make sure they are working — regardless of how many times they have been run before — with the goal of presenting a professional environment to the public at all times.
“When I talk about striving for perfection [it means] constantly improving yourself on and off the court, in work or out of work … We push our students to be the their best selves.
“When I think about our department as a whole — what our coaches talk about with their teams, and our student athletes and what they are striving for — this is the Bruin Way.”
