Advocating for Amoeba Awareness - The Jordan Smelski Foundation Media Project

Authors

• Leah Darby, University of Central FloridaFollow
• Juan Sanchez, University of Central FloridaFollow
• Misty Zamora, University of Central FloridaFollow
• Geanluka Guedes de Souza, University of Central FloridaFollow

Streaming Media

Files

Course Code

ADV

Course Number

3008

Faculty/Instructor

Christine Hanlon

Faculty/Instructor Email

Christine.Hanlon@ucf.edu

About the Author

The four of us have worked hard this semester to deliver this report and we're all very proud of it. I'd like to personally thank the Jordan Smelski Foundation for giving us this opportunity to work alongside them to develop new strategies, as well as Dr. Hanlon for supporting us along the way.

Abstract, Summary, or Creative Statement

Throughout this semester, our advertising group worked closely alongside the Jordan Smelski Foundation to broaden their reach and inform our local community about the dangers of freshwater amoebas. The foundation works in the honor of Jordan Smelski, who passed away in 2014 after contracting this dangerous amoeba. We hope to create a more informed world to prevent further tragedies from happening.

Some of the tasks we worked on included identifying weaknesses in the foundation's current social media approach, proposing new ideas to help broaden their outreach, and conducting field research such as the mass-distribution of surveys. In the end, we hope that our findings will help the foundation grow and inform others about their mission.

Additional Resources

The following is a link to a presentation that compiles our findings throughout the semester. This contains extra material that could not make it into the video due to time constraints. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FBYFfVm_YiEjVleSR7GgJGCsXMx1hDZ2/view?usp=sharing

Keywords

presentation;amoeba awareness;outreach;jordan smelski;amoeba;advertising

Recommended Citation

Darby, Leah; Sanchez, Juan; Zamora, Misty; and Guedes de Souza, Geanluka, "Advocating for Amoeba Awareness - The Jordan Smelski Foundation Media Project" (2026). High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2026. 25.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hip-2026spring/25