The 2010 U.S. Census "Portrait of America" Road Tour stopped at Elon University on Tuesday as part of the largest civic outreach and awareness campaign in the bureau's history, with a specific focus on the hard-to-count demographics such as college students and economically disadvantaged Americans.
The road tour bus parked in the Elon University Moseley Center parking lot through much of the morning with interactive kiosks and exhibits. More than 100 visitors met with representatives to learn how census data is collected and how that information may be useful in their future careers.
“The 2010 Census ‘Portrait of America’ Road Tour is a way of taking the census off the page and bringing it directly to the people,” said Tony Jones of the U.S. Census Bureau. “The road tour vehicle is equipped to provide visitors a unique on-site experience. Visitors can contribute their voices, pictures, videos and messages for others to see at subsequent road tour stops.”
Mandated by the U.S. Constitution, a nationwide census is conducted every 10 years and all residents, both citizens and non-citizens, are legally required to participate. The census is used to determine how many seats each state will receive in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Elon University’s School of Communications Bateman Team has partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau to bring the tour to Elon.
The Bateman competition is a national case study competition, established by the Public Relations Student Society of America in 1973 to allow members of PRSSA the opportunity to exercise the analytical skills and mature judgment required for public relations problem solving. Elon University’s 2010 Bateman team is made up of five seniors: Claire Derreberry, Molly Calpin, Kaitlin Carlin, Benjamin Kaufman and Craig Orsi.
The team is advised by associate professor of communications Frances Ward-Johnson.