To conclude my civic engagement series, I’ll be talking about my internship at the Ad Council of Rochester this semester. I’m receiving academic credit for my internship, but I’m also helping the Rochester community by being the marketing and events intern where I’m trying to make meaningful impacts.
About the Ad Council: The Ad Council is a nonprofit organization that works with community partners (advertising agencies, volunteers, and other nonprofits) in order to make meaningful impacts in the community. We work with advertising agencies to create promotional campaigns for our own events and we provide nonprofit workshops for organizations to develop their organizations. To make impacts in our community, the Ad Council partners with local organizations in order to make initiatives stronger. A few of their campaigns include Pass Life On with Brand Cool, Distracted Driving with Roberts Communications, and School Attendance Improvement with Partners + Napier. To help put this all on and make meaningful impacts in the community, hundreds of volunteers give their time and hands to help the Ad Council host events and complete various activities.
What I do: I am the marketing and events intern and I help with the logistics of the three major events for the spring: LoveFest, Annual Celebration (the photo above is one of our promotions for the event) and the Golf&Games Tournament. My activities for these events include researching and reporting information, updating our Salesforce database, creating social media campaigns, and generating ideas. I also help the Ad Council maintain their website and provide an extra set of hands as projects/tasks arise.
What I’ll Take Away: Before starting my internship, I never thought of this opportunity as an act of community service. Although it’s not traditional community service, I’m providing an extra set of hands for the organization to do everything it can do in order to benefit the community. I’ve been able to meet many volunteers who graciously help the Ad Council on top of their regular job. This has inspired me to want to continue working with the Ad Council, as a volunteer, when they need extra hands. Furthermore, it has really pushed me more towards wanting to perform more service because I’ve realized that the little acts that I’m doing as part of my internship are making an impact. My conception of community service has shifted from giving up one day here and there to work at a soup kitchen or clean up a community park to putting time and effort into something you’re passionate about. I’ve learned that I’m passionate about positive changes, which can be accomplished by cleaning up a park, but it can also be accomplished through daily activities, which add up to a lot of hours of service.
Nazareth College offers innumerable opportunities for its students to be civically engaged. Read more about Jenn’s experiences on an alternative spring break trip and in-class service learning.