Let’s Set the Scene…

September 25, 2012… Our Ad Club Assembly

Today was the day… the first day I would introduce myself, the first day I would interact with the students, and most importantly, the first day the students would hopefully open their eyes to the world of advertising. It was 9:00am, and a group of 4 Temple students, including myself, traveled to Kensington CAPA to talk to the kids about joining our after-school advertising club. We walked into a classroom of about 20 kids, all dressed in their high school’s uniform and the seats were aligned in a half circle. Our assigned teacher was playing songs off of his iTunes (which I though promoted a creative environment quite nicely) and the students weren’t as rowdy as I expected. You could tell that the teacher definitely commanded the atmosphere and the students respected him, as they quickly got quiet and payed attention when he called the class to order. We all introduced ourselves as Temple University students, and stated our year and major.

After all of the talk in the previous weeks of class back at Temple, I was definitely expecting the worst. I was extremely shocked that the kids were so respectful and listened to what we had to say, even if they weren’t the slightest bit interested. We showed a Prezi explaining that we would eventually build an ad campaign for a surprise client by the end of the semester and we sincerely wanted the students’ help. Not only did we emphasize the fact that we wanted to hear what they had to say about advertising, but we also strongly expressed that we wanted to help them through every step of the way on their journey to college. The students weren’t jumping for joy, but you could tell our presentation sparked something in them. By the end of the assembly we had 18 students sign up for the program and I think we gave a great first impression.