PR Team Creates Good Will in Capstone Campaign

A team of 12 public relations seniors spent their last semester in the School of Journalism & Media Studies at San Diego State University tasked with spreading good will for their capstone client Goodwill San Diego in the spring 2021 semester.

“This semester has given me a clear picture of what will be expected of me as a practitioner once I graduate,” said Jenna Greer. “Working on an agency-style team and cooperating with a large group of practitioners pushed me to become my best professional self as I step into graduation.”

Their campaign began with extensive research about Goodwill and those insights drove their process throughout.

The team followed each step of the research, planning, implementation and evaluation process to produce a complete PR strategy for their client.

The practitioners were grateful for the opportunity to increase public knowledge of Goodwill San Diego’s mission, which is to provide employment and training opportunities for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment.

“This capstone experience is designed to be a space for new practitioners to have learning experiences and create muscle memory to flex their PR skills, while they’re still in the warm womb of college,” said capstone professor Dr. Kaye Sweetser, APR+M, Fellow PRSA.

The PR team earned media coverage from KPBS and The Coast News Group. About 185,000 total listeners tuned in to hear a Goodwill employee speak about her experiences in two KPBS radio features. The Coast News Group represents an unreached people group for Goodwill in North County San Diego and has a readership of about 100,000 readers.

One highlight of their campaign is their social media initiative that earned Goodwill San Diego an increased engagement rate of 2.69%, which surpassed their initial goal of 2%.

They capitalized on the relatively new feature of Instagram reels, which have become popular to the 18 to 24-year-old demographic, a group that Goodwill needed to improve upon.

The team felt lucky to be able to create growth for a nationally recognized brand.

“I feel so honored to be a part of this team and work with such talented, young professionals who I’m lucky to call my peers,” said Tiffany Rihana.

About Spring 2021 Goodwill PR Team

The Spring 2021 Goodwill PR team from JMS 585 Professional Practices in Public Relations included Nene Fujimoto, Ana Harren, Courtney Pitillo, Hannah Fogelstrom, Jenna Greer, Julia Gallegos, Marissa Taylor, Ruby Nunez, Sarah Katsiyiannis, Sophia De Runtz, Taylor Fredericks and Tiffany Rihana. They are all graduating and ready to be hired.