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CORVALLIS - General Motors Corp. has given a team of 15 Oregon State University students a budget of $2,500 and hired them to create a college marketing campaign for the company's car and truck line.

The effort is part of an internship program with GM. Students in the OSU Marketing Club used the cash to create their own public relations firm - Vision 2000 - and then developed plans for a day-long campus promotion program. The event, set from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, in the OSU Memorial Union Quad, will feature free food, live music, a fun run and walk and displays of GM vehicles, said Tim Baggs, spokesman for Vision 2000.

The students are working with a regional GM dealer - Signer Motors of Corvallis - to market GM vehicles to the college audience.

The marketing event, dubbed "Signer Speedway," will include hands-on activities designed to increase automotive knowledge and a number of prizes that will be given away throughout the day, Baggs said.

More than 100 universities throughout the country are involved in the GM Marketing Internship Program, Baggs said, and GM rates each campus' promotional program. The school with the winning program will receive $2,000 to enhance campus business and marketing education.