The Student Public Relations Association (SPRA) has enlisted a whole new team of William Paterson students to lead the student-run organization in various public relations initiatives. SPRA, advised by former PR executive and WPU professor Lorra Brown, continues to grow and expand, providing the William Paterson community with various opportunities to build relationships, make connections, and gain valuable public relations knowledge outside of classroom discussions.
SPRA is a club that teaches about public relations but happily welcomes students of all majors and encourages students to participate in their workshops and on-campus events. Regardless of major, SPRA’s goal is for students to help other students gain professional skills to prepare them for future careers and to provide great sources of information and networking opportunities.
At SPRA’s weekly meetings, workshops are held periodically throughout the fall and spring semesters. The workshops include Resume building, social media usage, Agency vs. In-House PR, PR in the Healthcare Field, and PR Case Studies Analyzed. At their most recent workshop, Dr. Yoo presented a workshop on strategic social and digital media use.
Valuable information is learned that can be applied not only to students pursuing a career in PR but for everyone who maintains an active presence on social media. At the most recent workshop, for example, Dr. Yoo provided students with several tips to generate media coverage that included creating multimedia news releases, reaching key influencers through websites like Muck Rack, how to pitch wisely to journalists, creating media outlets like a blog or YouTube Channel, and monitoring people’s experiences or perspectives about a company through Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and Hoot Suite.
When the SPRA members are not holding workshops at their meetings, they are discussing current PR campaigns and initiatives or planning and executing real PR campaigns and events on campus. On October 8th, SPRA members had the privilege of attending the Gubernatorial Debate and working the pressroom. Their next big event is the Second Annual SPRA Internship and Career Fair this coming Wednesday, November 6th. (All students are welcomed and encouraged to attend!)
Some other events SPRA is planning for the spring semester include their Alumni Mixer and NYC PR Firm Trip. Last April, the club visited 5WPR, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and PRSA, all of which employ WPU alumni who spoke with club members at each visit and provided valuable industry information as well as a bit about how their education and experiences at WPU helped them to succeed.
If you are a William Paterson student interested in joining the Student Public Relations Association, you can attend their meetings on Tuesdays at 1pm in Hobart Hall room 142 or send an email to spra@student.wpunj.edu.
#buildthePR with SPRA by following them on social media!