Most Sacramento State students would be perfectly happy receiving an “A” in a class. No other reward necessary – just the grade, and call it a semester. Junior communication studies major Ashleigh Stayton has significantly more to show for her studies. She and nine groupmates raised more than $1,600 to fight ovarian cancer and inspired a new drink at Bisla’s.

They accomplished this feat for an assignment in professor Nick Trujillo’s small group communication class. The class, filled mainly with communication studies majors, teaches students how to work effectively with their peers. Trujillo said this is especially important for communication studies majors since they are the ones who will be leading groups and chairing meetings later in their careers.

The highlight of the class is a project where students work together to organize a campaign to benefit any group in their community. Trujillo said most of the time this involves a fundraiser or drive of some sort. Stayton’s crew organized a karaoke night at Bisla’s Sports Bar near Sac State to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. The owners of the bar collaborated with the group to organize the event, and even donated 5 percent of the proceeds from the night’s alcohol sales to the charity.

Since the ribbon commonly associated with the fight against ovarian cancer is colored teal, they designed a drink called the Teal Ribbon specifically for that night. Stayton said it contained rum and blue curacao, but was not very strong.

Trujillo does not tell his students they have to raise a specific amount of money, but he finds if he allows them to set their own goals, they achieve more.

“I encourage them (to) raise the bar,” Trujillo said. “And it is amazing when you create an environment where people really want to take something on, and they get to decide, I think they raise the bar higher than I would if I said ‘This is what you have to do.’”

Indeed, groups are not required to raise any money at all. One group this semester is putting together a basketball tournament April 28 in the Well, which they claim is benefiting their fellow students.

Trujillo explained one of the primary goals of this project is to get students accustomed to dealing with all the little details of event planning. Perhaps the most important of these facets is risk management, particularly when adult beverages are available. At Stayton’s karaoke night, the group handed out business cards for a cab company which had agreed to offer a discount to people coming from Bisla’s.

“They have certain parameters that they have to work with, but that is real life,” Trujillo said. “You’re going to have to learn what the barriers are.”

Trujillo has taught at Sac State since 1990, and claims he runs into students he had over a decade ago who tell him how much this project still helps them in their careers. He said this is because they are not just taking tests and writing papers, but gaining real world experience they can directly apply in other areas.

Last semester, junior communication studies major Mariana Palomares helped put together an event at Shenanigans, a bar downtown. It was initially meant to also be held at Bisla’s, but a fire forced them to relocate. Trujillo said having a “plan B” is an important lesson he wants students to learn from this class.

Palomares said there were raffles and games like beer pong, and they raised between $1,200 and $1,500 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and for a private fund benefiting a friend of a group member who was paralyzed in a diving accident.

Trujillo said the two charities were originally meant to have their own fundraiser, but were forced to merge. The group benefiting the paralyzed diver had wanted to sell lemonade on campus to raise money, but their idea was turned away by the administration because it violated the campus’s exclusive beverage deal with Pepsi Co. Trujillo said another skill he wants students to take away from his class is dealing with bureaucracy.

Palomares said she has learned a lot from this class.

“As a person, you always want to help,” she said. “But just having a class like that, and a group like that, and just doing it instead of just thinking about it, it is just such a big difference, you know?”