Earlier this semester at the Gerdin Business Building, students were able to pick up a free copy of an ISU yearly planner for their own personal use.

The planner has the months for the academic year along with important academic dates, a directory in the back of the planner and coupons from Ames businesses throughout the pages.

The planner is made and distributed by University Directories, a collegiate media and marketing company in the United States, said Morgan Fleener who worked on the ISU student planner as an intern for the company .

University Directories has put together planners similar to the planner that was distributed at Iowa State for more than 200 other universities.

The interns based out of Iowa State were taken to Chapel Hill, N.C., this past summer for training to produce the planners. There were three interns who received the position through CyHire and the online student job board last semester.

The interns were Fleener, senior in journalism and mass communication; Katie Malm; senior in marketing; and Ashley Pickhinke, senior in communication studies.

“We sold advertising space for the planners,” Pickhinke said. “We tried making it to every single business in Ames regardless of it being a funeral home or a nursing home and tried to make the business connection to the campus and community just so that the students know what businesses are here in Ames.”

Each intern had a territory in Ames that they were assigned to in order to work with businesses around the community.

“My territory was everything east of Iowa State, so I had basically Duff Avenue and the Main Street area, which was awesome because I got to work with corporate accounts,” Fleener said.

The businesses in Ames would tell the interns what they would like their advertisement or coupon to look like in the planners. The interns would then create the advertisement or coupon with the help of an in-home office design team for the business approval.

The advertisement prices ranged from $250 to $5,000, Pickhinke said. Businesses who purchased space on the back cover received a full page of space inside the planner.

Along with the business coupons being located inside the planner, the coupons are also available on the website and on a free mobile app for smartphones. The application is called AroundCampus.com.

In addition to the coupons posted through the app by local businesses, there are turn-by-turn directions to the businesses.

There is also a sweepstakes going on currently through the AroundCampus app and ran by University Directories called “The Party’s On Us” sweepstakes. The sweepstakes will give new and existing users a chance to win prize packages that include deals and discounts across Ames.

The prize packages include 70 “party packages.” Included in the packages are spring-break themed items, a $500 spring break voucher and a grand prize trip for two. The sweepstakes ends Nov. 12. To become eligible for the sweepstakes, students must download the app and select “enter me in the sweepstakes” on the app.