“Lock Up Your Future” Locked it Up!
Nearly two months of hard work finally paid off last Thursday when UO’s 2009 PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition team successfully pulled-off a first-ever event that brought nearly 300 8th-graders to campus. The event was called “Lock Up Your Future Campus Day.“
Jenna Winkler, Gretchen Brandtjen, Courtney Smith, Dani Metz and Amy Wicks. Photo by UO SOJC. Linked for attribution
I’m so happy to be a part of this team and everything we have accomplished. The event received lead story coverage on KMTR News Source 16 5:00 p.m. news! It was an invaluable learning experience. I was able to get my feet wet in so many aspects of campaign and event coordination: publicity, volunteer coordination, logistical planning, donations, client correspondence, and public speaking.
We called the college readiness campaign “Lock Up Your Future” and decided that an on-campus event would be the best way to communicate to 8th-graders the importance of preparing for the future right now. Especially in one of the most unsteady and unpredictable economic times in decades, we wanted to emphasize the importance of educating oneself of the financial resources available that help make college a possibility for everybody.
The event couldn’t have happened without the several UO PR students who volunteered their time to help out. Thank you so much to each and every one of you!
From the feedback I have received, the schools (Briggs and Cascade middle schools) were very pleased with the event and their students’ reaction to it. One teacher told me that the students couldn’t stop talking about their experience and had a million questions about college after the event. I’ve even been asked how this campaign can be reproduced in the future. I hope with the help of local sponsors and eager PR students, this event can happen again next year.
Targeting 8th-graders about the importance of college may seem unusual and pointless at first; however, as I feel our results will show, it is time well spent to help even just one more student see college as a possiblity.
