School of Communication Studies junior applied communication major, Austin Hartsel, is using skills learned in the classroom to assist with fundraising efforts for his friend, David Bakos. Bakos was diagnosed with stage four adenocarcinoma in December 2014.
鈥淒avid is the nicest person you鈥檒l ever meet; the last person on his mind is always himself,鈥 Hartsel said. 鈥淏ut, he has the worst luck.鈥
After his diagnosis, Bakos started going to the Cleveland Clinic to visit sick children. After a few visits, he decided he wanted to start a foundation 鈥 with the ultimate goal of developing a sanitized building where patients could spend time together watching movies, bowling, playing pool and developing friendships 鈥 all without the stress of germs. To achieve this dream, Bakos and his mother decided to start a Go Fund Me account and asked Hartsel for assistance.
Hartsel said as he thinks of Bakos as a brother 鈥 not just a best friend 鈥 it was his responsibility to help. To assist with developing the Go Fund Me account, Hartsel wrote the copy describing Bakos鈥 diagnosis and his dream. He also became active in distributing flyers and information.
He credits several of his communication classes as helping him with the creation and promotion of the account.
鈥淢y High Impact and Professional Speaking class taught me that people respond differently to different subjects 鈥 especially when you talk about sensitive ones,鈥 he said. 鈥淢y nonverbal course has helped 鈥 I鈥檝e learned you can see it on people鈥檚 faces if they鈥檙e just listening to you or if they鈥檙e actually going to take action.鈥
Hartsel also says his love to talk and write made promoting the cause easier 鈥 along with the knowledge that Bakos would do anything to help if the roles were reversed.
When the foundation comes to fruition, Hartsel will serve as the social media manager and spokesman 鈥 two roles that will put his applied communication degree to good use.
To learn more about the Go Fund Me account Hartsel created, visit .