How PR Students Made Chameleons Impossible to Ignore

In spring 2026, eight public relations seniors at San Diego State University brought conservation out of the classroom and into practice. They applied four years of curriculum to execute a data-driven campaign for an international nonprofit.

Students leveraged classroom concepts to real-world challenges through researching, planning, implementing and evaluating a comprehensive campaign for Wildlife Madagascar.

This transformative experience demonstrated their ability to execute strategy and prepared them to enter the professional world with confidence.

The capstone class is the real world, agency life. Buckle up, we go at lightning speed,” said Dr. Kaye Sweetser, APR+M, Fellow PRSA.

Capstone is not a traditional lecture class. Assignments mirror the demands of real-world campaign work, focusing on achieving defined objectives and securing earned media coverage.

Accountability, high client expectations and strict deadlines reinforced the fast-paced, results-driven nature of the PR industry.

“I’ve never been put under this pressure before, but I wouldn’t change a thing. The rigorous workload forced us to adapt into real-world professionals, something none of us knew we needed to succeed,” said Amanda Gonzalez, team lead.

Chameleons as the client

No campaign exists without a client.

The team aligned its work with Wildlife Madagascar, a nonprofit founded in 2023 by Debra Erickson and Lytah Razafimahefa to protect biodiversity and forest ecosystems across Madagascar. The organization operates in three key regions in Madagascar. It connects conservation to community needs, where food insecurity drives deforestation.

Wildlife Madagascar launched International Chameleon Day two years later. Celebrated annually on May 9, the day seeks to raise awareness of habitat loss that directly affects chameleon survival.

The initiative expanded to more than 50 global partners by 2025.

“Public understanding of chameleons is surprisingly low. People are misinformed about their color-changing abilities, and don’t even realize how these endangered species affect our ecosystems,” said capstone account coordinator Madison Wolden.

Wildlife Madagascar gave the PR team one main task: to increase awareness and engagement of International Chameleon Day in both public and private sectors.

The team began their primary research by conducting a series of surveys and one-on-one interviews. Respondents and participants included university students, parents, online conservation groups and individuals unaware of conservation efforts.

Research findings illuminated a strategic approach the PR team needed to set their goal and objectives.

What the PR team did

To prepare for the 2026 celebration, the PR team developed a multi-platform campaign focused on media outreach, social media and partner engagement.

The team's tactics included:

• Hired an experienced graphic designer to assist in creating high-quality branded elements for International Chameleon Day, including a mascot image, a partner badge, a fact sheet and social media templates. 
• Media package with a press release, fact sheet, localized story angles, graphic-designer created visual assets and a myth-busting insert. 
• Press release distributed through BusinessWire. 
• Direct media outreach in pitching journalists.
• Engaging social media content in static posts, reels and stories posted across Instagram and Facebook. 
• Personalized the content for schools to  engage youth audiences and educational stakeholders. The materials would help students learn to translate scientific information into compelling visuals and messages that resonated across diverse audience segments with clarity and impact.

• A partner toolkit with customized materials, providing all the resources necessary to support the initiative such as animal care specialist scripts, visitor handouts for zoos, lesson plans and educational worksheets for schools, social media templates for environmental organizations and key talking points for podcasts.

Together, these assets enabled organizations worldwide to join the conversation. Working closely with a conservation-focused organization challenged the students to balance creativity with accurate, digestible messaging when addressing the complexities of wildlife conservation. 

The results

Social media content brought chameleon conservation to audiences on Instagram and Facebook, making chameleons impossible to ignore with a 226% increase in engagement.

A media pitch secured coverage in The Revelator, an independent publication that reports on environmental issues, conservation and climate change.

Through the toolkit strategy, the PR team distributed personalized assets to 15 zoos, 28 schools and 20 environmental organizations, expanding the campaign’s reach across key audiences.

“The team brought extraordinary passion, creativity and professionalism to the International Chameleon Day campaign, helping elevate awareness for one of the world’s most unique and vulnerable species,” said executive director of Wildlife Madagascar Debra Erickson.

The campaign’s execution required continuous refinement, with students revising
materials and adapting strategies to meet professional standards and client expectations.

“Every pitch returned for revision and late nights spent editing social media content shaped me as a professional,” said capstone account coordinator Cameron Dale. “I could feel myself rising to the challenge.”

As these seniors graduate, they leave with agency experience to kickstart their careers. Their commitment demonstrates their ability to execute strategic campaigns, collaborate with real clients and deliver measurable results. Their work not only exceeded client expectations but also demonstrated the impact of strategic communications in advancing global conservation efforts.

“What impressed me the most was not just the quality of work, but the heart behind it, their commitment to making a real difference for wildlife and communities in Madagascar,” said Erickson. “That combination is what will set them apart in their careers.”

The spring 2026 International Chameleon Day PR team from JMS 585 Professional Practices in Public Relations included Cameron Dale, MJ Destro, Amanda Gonzalez, Madeline Hogenauer, Cambell Kirk, Mieke Turangan, Roxi White and Madison Wolden.