A Southern Illinois University Edwardsville team of seniors introduced the Family Earth Festival to more than 140 Granite City residents Saturday, March 29.
Inventive Solutions is a group comprised of College of Arts and Sciences seniors taking a public relations course. They were required to simulate a PR firm to plan and execute a campaign involving events with community partners. They worked for the past two semesters to design and implement a family festival with a sustainability theme at the Complex Youth Center.
Victoria Aupont of Chicago, Alton’s Kelsy DeMond, Adam Heil of Highland, Carbondale native Rachel Suits and Brighton ‘s Ariel Weinman created the project.
“We had so much support from the community,” said Heil, Inventive Solutions account manager. “We never dreamed we would get this much support.”
“It started with research,” said DeMond. “We distributed surveys and collected data from various sources. Then we wrote a proposal as a group. It was a lot of work, but it was really cool to see the final product”.
The research and planning stages of the campaign, which preceded the organization of the event and its promotion through different media, helped the students find their focus and prepare for professional PR work.
“The PR faculty in the Department of Speech Communication hope to prepare senior students for the requirements and the rigors of a competitive marketplace,” said Dr. Sorin Nastasia, SIUE assistant professor who provided guidance. “They understand how to budget, and manage time and human resources in a hands-on format within a real life agency structure.”
Through the long process of research, planning, implementation and promotion, the student team came up with the idea of promoting sustainability in the Granite City community while also showcasing the Complex Youth Center and its contributions to the community.
“The event was a great way to show the community how to be green and also showcase the Center and what we do,” said Kristen Stewart, executive director of the Complex Youth Center.
The Family Earth Festival was sponsored by Icon Mechanical of Granite City and supported by a Meridian Society Award. With that funding, the event was free to the public. It featured food, fun activities, a bounce house, a caricature artist and information booths about sustainability. There were drawings for an iPad mini, iPod Nano and scooters donated by Radio Flyer.
For more information about the Family Earth Festival, contact Adam Heil at 618-610-7587.
Additional information about the Complex Youth Center and the Family Earth Festival can be found on the Complex Youth Center’s Facebook page.
Photo (L-R): SIUE students Rachel Suits, Ariel Weinman, Victoria Aupont, Kelsy DeMond and Adam Heil.