PRSSA Holds Successful Agency Crawl

Public relations and media management students interested in a future career in advertising and public relations agencies had the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of agency life thanks to the recent Agency Crawl, organized by PRSSA and a small student planning group.

On Thursday, Dec. 1, 15 students traveled throughout the day to local agencies including Dixon Schwabl + Co., Tipping Point Communications, Butler/Till, Helen and Gertrude, and Partners and Napier to meet with employees – some of whom were alumni leaders of each organization – to hear more about clients, day-to-day work, and what makes each agency tick.

The idea came about thanks to Professor Arien Rozelle who encouraged students in the public relations program to plan an event that might expose them to local agencies, and Suhaily Garcia, Sarah Sheridan, Ali Short, and Meghan Gleason took the idea and ran – not crawled – with it.

The group spent about 45 minutes at each stop and took in an agency tour, heard an overview of the agency’s work, and learned more about their mission, values, and what they represent. They also learned about potential internship opportunities.

For Garcia, the biggest takeaway was the opportunities that exist within an agency setting.

“As a student who has an idea of what I would like to do as a career, it hasn’t always been easy to imagine what a work setting would look like for myself. One thing that really stuck with me was the people at the agencies advising us that it’s okay to explore various fields until I’m able to find what I'm really good at,” said Garcia.

Sheridan agreed.

“There are so many different aspects of each agency with so many opportunities to pursue any kind of focus in the public relations field. And with it being a new major and having just started it, it was comforting to see the flexibility in the industry in regards to what kind of public relations I wish to pursue after graduation,” she added.

The planning team are already planning to do this event again in the spring semester, and it seems as though the participating agencies are on board once again.

“We so enjoyed the visit from the St. John Fisher University students. It’s always impressive to see students take the initiative and proactively seek to enhance their industry knowledge and make connections, especially for no other merit and on their own accord,” said Nadine General, managing director of communications at Dixon Schwabl + Co. “It was even more exciting to see a few students in the group who had recently participated in the PRSA Rochester ‘Pitch’ program, an annual college case competition. This type of investment is what it takes to establish yourself early in your career. We hope to see them back as colleagues someday soon.”