By Lezlee Gutierrez, Student Reporter

ACU is taking the initiative this semester to connect its students with local universities and the community.

Jason Groves, chair of the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council and associate vice president of Marketing at ACU, will choose people among nominated students from ACU, Hardin-Simmons University and McMurry University to represent their schools in a committee for the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council.

The committee will be working with the community to find different ways to advertise upcoming events and create marketing solutions to better communicate with local college students.

“I would like to form a group composed of a diverse mix of students to help open new channels of communication between Abilene and its college students,” Groves said.

The committee of students will work together to fix communication problems and find better ways to advertise events in Abilene. Some events include the fall balloon fest and New Art Austin, an exhibit The Grace Museum that displays artwork from the top 20 artists under the age of 30 from Austin.

The committee also will conduct meetings to identify the best ways to give students ideas on how they can become more involved in the community.

“There is not a single solution to this problem,” Groves said. “But we need better ways to communicate to students; communication in the past has primarily been through newspapers, and it’s just not working.”

Groves will work with the committee to test various ideas on how to distribute information to students, such as creating advocates to pass data through social networks like Facebook.

The committee also will focus on developing ways to bridge the communication gap between international students, so they can get the full experience of being a member of the Abilene community.

“Our goal is to find an avenue where we can inform local students of cultural activities to be involved in, so they may take advantage of what they have to offer,” said Lynn Barnett, director of Abilene Cultural Affairs Council.

For more information about the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council and dates and times of upcoming events, visit <strong><i>www.abilenecac.org.</i></strong>