The Public Relations Student Society: What You Need to Know
One of the big benefits of learning at Arcadia is the opportunity to join many societies and organizations that help further your academic career and prepare you for life beyond college. There’s Pi Sigma Alpha for Political Science students, Phi Kappa Phi for honor students, and even chances to join different modern language honor societies. These organizations provide scholarships, resources, close-knit communities, networking opportunities, and databases for college students to carry them into their careers post-graduation.
As a lesser known major on campus, the Media and Communication department tends to fly under the radar. To me, this is upsetting, because we have so many wonderful things going on! One of them is our chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). The PRSSA is the student faction of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), an organization that PR professionals join in order to attend conferences, participate in specialized training, enter awards competitions, gain access to a professional database network, and receive premier newsletters.
“We really wanted to bring PRSSA to Arcadia to give our students the benefits that come with being affiliated with a national, well respected leader in the public relations industry,” said Chris Mullin, chapter advisor. “The PR community in Philadelphia has been extremely welcoming and have always tried to support our students over the past three years by coming to speak, offering internship opportunities, and including students in the various events they hold each year.”
Students can eventually become a member of the PRSA, which many employers look for on resumes. They also offer the chance to apply for scholarships that only PRSSA members can receive. But this is not all that membership with the PRSSA can give you. PRSSA chapters at universities use events and conferences to spread the word about the benefits that the society can provide. Scheduling and throwing these events on campuses is a way to get the community involved while giving chapter members experience in event management.
The Arcadia chapter of the PRSSA is congruent with our student-run PR agency, 1853 Communications, which is based in a practicum class that anyone can take. As a separate entity, the PRSSA chapter oversees the work that 1853 Communications does and keeps records and compiles data from each of the firm’s campaigns. It allows us to enter competitions and win grants for our firm!
Mullin especially wanted to acknowledge students who took the lead on getting the organization recognized nationally.
“The students working for 1853 Communications during the Spring 2022 semester started the process of applying for our agency to have national certification from PRSSA,” she said. “Led by Julia Neff (’22), Beth Mackey (’22), and Meghan Airey (’23), the students completed a rigorous application process that highlighted our success as an agency and the many opportunities that we can offer students who are interested in public relations. PRSSA offered support during the process and we were thrilled to receive the news that we are considered among the best student-run agencies in the country.”
A membership for the PRSSA is $55 a year, which is understandably difficult for many college students, so our chapter is running monthly fundraising events to cover the price of swag and to sponsor students who are interested in joining, but may not be able to swing the membership fee. We recently threw a “Build Your Own Charcuterie Cup” event in the Chat. To stay updated on events, give us a follow @1853communications_pr on Instagram. We post information from the student-run firm as well as the Arcadia PRSSA chapter. If you are interested in joining, contact Professor Chris Mullin at mullinc@arcadia.edu.
