Senior Shannon Munier Spent Summer as an Urban Fellow

Shannon Munier, a senior media management major and data analytics minor at St. John Fisher College, spent her summer with the Urban Fellows Program, volunteering more than 300 hours with Generation Two, a non-profit organization in Rochester that focuses on child-play initiatives to benefit childhood development.

Munier, who is also a member of the College’s Honors Program, spent 10 weeks with Generation Two, and her main goal was to expand the organization’s outreach in the community. Using skills she has developed as a student in the School of Business, she crafted social media content, developed a newsletter, made flyers, and created spreadsheets of potential partner and sponsor contact information.

“One of my main tasks was developing a social media strategy - so I basically worked to build up our social media presence from the ground up,” she said. “I was able to increase our engagement by 380%, so it’s definitely a big change. Our following went up by 133% which was really exciting.”

Outside of Generation Two, Munier had the opportunity to attend weekly seminars and hear from various guest speakers from the Rochester community. “We talked about a ton of social issues that impact the Rochester community, and I learned so much. Being from the Rochester area, it was extremely eye-opening to attend these seminars,” she said. “The biggest thing I took away from the seminars as a whole is just realizing how much there is to learn.”

That type of increased awareness of the community is exactly what the Urban Fellows program hopes to accomplish. Housed at the University of Rochester’s Center for Community Engagement, the Urban Fellows program is open to area college students and is designed to cultivate a greater understanding and appreciation for Rochester.

“I walked away from the Urban Fellows program with a newfound motivation to learn and become involved in the communities around me,” Munier said. “Getting to know an organization on a deep, close level that is fighting for something so meaningful to me has to have been one of the most rewarding things I have experienced. I am forever grateful for my time working as an Urban Fellow.”

This article was written by Leslie Noble, Marketing Major ’21, a PR Writing Intern with the Office of Marketing and Communications.