Student Experience
Overview
Students in the Public Relations program at Algonquin College learn a wide array of skills, from desktop publishing, photography, and the Internet, to business basics. The emphasis in all courses is on attention to detail, and creative and critical thinking in all public relations activities, from media relations to special event co-ordination. Students spend just as much time outside the classroom as they do sitting at a desk. All of the skills and knowledge learned are put into practice during a seven-week field placement in the fourth level.
Work-Integrated Learning
Overview: Algonquin College Public Relations Charity Campaign
Background:
Over almost 40 years, Algonquin College Public Relations (ACPR) students have raised more than $500,000 for a range of Ottawa charities, including Interval House, the Parkdale Food Centre, and ONFE. The campaign now takes place twice a year – in both the Winter term and in Spring/Summer – and is part of the curriculum in Levels 1, 2 and 3. The charity campaign project offers students a chance to learn from each other and practice their PR skills while giving back to the community. Many ACPR alumni consider it the highlight of their time at Algonquin. The Winter 2024 campaign, Audrey’s Star, raised more than $25,000 for the Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice (RNCH), in part thanks to the efforts of two students to secure a commitment from the Senators Community Foundation to match our funds raised up to $10,000. The students were inspired to support the hospice after hearing about Audrey, a classmate’s daughter, who died just shy of her fourth birthday while receiving care from RNCH.
How it works:
Level 1: Students form groups to advocate for different charities. They develop a communications plan with the goal of convincing their peers to vote for their charity. At the end of term, the students deliver a persuasive pitch presentation to their classmates, which culminates in a vote to determine which charity will be the focus of the campaign in Level 2.
Level 2: This is where the magic happens. Students form groups to plan and execute various external events to raise funds and awareness for the chosen charity. While this year’s campaign included events such as a book fair, a paint night and a pool tournament, the project is less about event planning than it is about the public relations efforts the students undertake to promote the campaign, sell tickets and educate their audiences about their charity and issue. During class discussions, the students build the campaign from the ground up, developing everything from a brand name and mission to a strategic communications plan. They also create a social media strategy, design visual assets to promote their events and produce media kits to distribute at a news conference. The campaign is entirely student-run, with faculty there to provide guidance and support.
Level 3: In the Measurement & Analytics for Public Relations class, the students analyze social media metrics from their Level 2 charity campaign (downloaded from Hootsuite, the platform used for social media scheduling and posting) to determine the success of their campaign on social media, the characteristics of posts with the highest engagement, etc., and to make recommendations about what could be enhanced in subsequent campaigns.
Collaboration: The campaign is a tremendous opportunity to collaborate with an external organization (we refer to our chosen charity as our “client”) and showcase our students’ skills and passion – and as such it’s a wonderful public relations initiative for the ACPR program itself. From an internal perspective, we work with the Journalism program to have their students attend the PR students’ news conference, during which the budding journalists practice their interviewing and news writing skills and PR students practice their skills as spokespeople. Afterwards, the students from Journalism and PR attend a debrief session to give each other feedback about the experience. During Winter 2024, after hearing about Audrey’s Star, the Music Industry Arts program chose RNCH as the recipient of funds raised during two end-of-term concerts, which together netted an additional $1,700 for the hospice. You can learn more about the campaign by following @acprcampaign on social media.
Success Stories & Testimonials
Hear first hand about Lesly’s experience in the program and why she initially chose it.
Hear first hand about Alexandra’s experience in the program and what made it stand out for her.