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Real-life experience and a professional portfolio is every student’s dream. However, not many can boast of a good portfolio as soon as they graduate.
Capacity Canada’s Creative Day for Social Good (CD4SG) and Conestoga College’s Creative Semester for Social Good ensure students are ready to take on the world with real-life experience, good connections, and a professional portfolio.
Every year, Capacity Canada invites applications from non-profit organizations across Canada to be part of the CD4SG, and it receives anywhere between 50-and 100 applications. While only a handful of organizations are selected to be part of the program, Capacity Canada, in partnership with Conestoga College, ensures that all social good organizations benefit. Paula Barrett, Program Coordinator, Bachelor of PR at Conestoga College, contacts the organizations not chosen for CD4SG to be part of the Creative Semester for Social Good where students design marketing material for the non-profits.
The Creative Semester for Social Good, part of the Public Relations Consulting Course, is offered to third-year students pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Public 
Relations at Conestoga College. With the vision of creating a service-learning approach, Paula came up with the idea of a real-world student agency when she assumed the PR Consulting course around four years ago. “I wanted students to learn PR consulting skills hands-on with real clients and where charitable organizations benefit from their talents,” she said.
The course runs for an entire semester and starts with the 3rd year cohort being divided into groups. Agencies are then created within the groups. “I am in a group with five other students, and we named our agency Prism Public Relations. Once we formed a name and agency strengths, we met with our client – The Rainbow Coalition of Waterloo Region (RCWR),” said Emily, a third-year student at Conestoga College.
Throughout the semester, Prism PR has been consulting with RCWR and creating deliverables that will benefit their organization for years to come. Some examples of work Prism PR created for RCWR are a social media playbook, copious amounts of research, a four-month social media content calendar with four months of content, a news release template, and a media audit. “These are just some of the deliverables we created. There are around 20 deliverables in total that will be given to RCWR at the end of the semester,” Emily added.
While students get hands-on experience working with real clients, it helps students with networking that may lead to future job prospects. “I have professional quality work to show on my resume, and I have also built connections with RCWR. I feel confident that if I ever apply to work with the
m in the future, I will have an advantage as they know me and enjoy working with me,” stated Emily Wettlaufer.
The Creative Semester for Social Good course is delivered in an experiential format. Experiential learning allows students to learn through immersive experience and application while discussing and reflecting upon their learning experience. “Students are guided by a facilitator or coach rather than a traditional teacher”. Paula added that they get to experience the lessons, immersing in the concepts in a real rather than an abstract way.
It’s a win-win for both the students and the non-profits. Social good organizations that do not have the budget or the resources are provided with valuable design and marketing expertise for no cost. This course has made it possible for charitable non-profits to access professional resources to build their brand and have a more significant social impact. At the same time, it has allowed students to gain professional experience and prepare them for the real world.
“Capacity Canada has been a fantastic partner in this work, helping us work with organizations that need our help the most,” Paula added.
Through the Creative Semester for Social Good, the students have assisted 22 non-profit organizations with communications material and fundraising.
