PR Majors Need Experience Prior to Graduation

At our blogging training session for San Antonio: Bline Blog I was introduced to a great blog site for students, NewPR. As the student blogger on our team I have had a little trouble being inspired and motivated to post. Until now!

I read a great blog written by Brian Solis, Colleges send marketing/PR graduates to workforce ill-prepared that struck me as very relevant to the students at the University of Texas at San Antonio(UTSA), especially those in the UTSA-PRSSA chapter. The degree offered at UTSA in the area of public relations is theory based with some excellent courses, but the only real experience a student can participate in is the PRSSA National Bateman Competition. Even then it is only a select group of students that are chosen. Solis mentions the need of universities to monitor the field for any specialized program that the evolvement of dynamics happens quickly and often. This is especially true of the PR curriculums with the growing amount of social media that has recently evolved.

I found the annual intern program that Solis hosts at San Jose State University for PR students to be an awesome opportunity for those students to get the real world experience before graduation. Solis basically places students with the PR teams of San Jose State University and local San Jose businesses charging them with their PR and marketing initiatives. Solis compares this to the types of situations that are seen in such reality television series as the Apprentice, and the Real World. The great thing about this concept is the ability of peers to work together in real-time accomplishment by utilizing their education, teamwork, and experience while working for a group of clients. This is all done in a situation where the playing field is pretty even. I feel this would be something that the UTSA-PRSSA executive board should discuss at length with both our faculty advisor, professional advisors, and the UTSA Internship advisor in regards to the feasibilty of beginning a program like this at UTSA.

Since becoming the 2006/2007 president of the UTSA-PRSSA I have been contacted by several professionals interested in partnering with our chapter, including a restaurant that is considering partnering with us for a full PR/marketing campaign. I am extremely excited and grateful for the renewed interest in our chapter, which is the only PRSSA chapter in San Antonio. This would be a great opportunity to begin a program such as that mentioned above.