A group of students in the Public Relations program are proving millennials have a voice.
Quyen Le and Milena Alvarenga were two of the six students who worked with CivicAction, an organization rallying civic leaders to create change.
CivicAction tasked the students with learning about what the next generation of Torontonians want and need.
“We want to debunk the myth that we’re lazy, entitled and choose to live with our parents,” Le said.
Centennial College students asked millennials in TO about their concerns for the city. Spoiler alert: They care about much more than avocado toast! Tweet us about what YOU want to see change in the GTHA #YourCityYourWay https://t.co/MOSRQqx4G9
— Centennial PR (@Centennial_CCPR) April 2, 2018
They did just that. The students created a survey that showed surprising statistics.
74 per cent of millennials are willing to leave Toronto if they don’t see improvements in affordability, employment and transit. Almost 70 per cent of millennials plan on voting in an election within the next year and the young adults are more willing to attend protests and other forms of activism compared to their counterparts.
“Everyone has a different story. To reinforce that with our survey, it shows this is real for us,” Le said.
The survey accompanied video interviews with millennials and social media campaigns.
The PR students also participated in Voices, an annual inter-college speaking competition hosted by Seneca College. The theme, YourCityYourWay, revolved around the survey.
Congrats to the #ccpr team at #voices2018 today, and special shout out to @mi_acs for placing third! You guys crushed it. #girlbosses pic.twitter.com/P03TxgB1FG
— Liv Nasner (@Livnasner) March 20, 2018
Their work gained media attention from Breakfast Television and CBC’s Metro Morning with Matt Galloway among others.
All this was a part of their Storyworks course, a mandatory class for all Story Arts students.
Donna Lindell, the Program Coordinator for the Public Relations program, calls it “ultimate experiential learning.”
“This stuff is for real. When they do a media release, it actually goes out to journalists and students pitch the story and in the case of CivicAction, students do the interviews,” she said. “It brings learning to life.”
The Storyworks course changed Alvarenga.
I wasn’t sure If I was ready to face the world… now I want to be a public relations professional,” she said.” It was intensive from the start, but super rewarding and the opportunities to work with real clients and instructors with so much to teach is just great.”
By Bobby Hristova