PRSA Cleveland Student Day 2025

By Maggie Sweeney

On October 24th, students from all over Northeast Ohio came eager to learn from industry professionals and connect with other passionate PR students. Marcus Thomas LLC collaborated with Cleveland State’s Senior Capstone class to organize PRSA Cleveland Student Day. The event featured panels with various professionals, networking opportunities and bonding among universities such as Kent State, Cleveland State and Mount Union. 

Decorated PR Professionals
After having breakfast, students were split into four groups to meet with four guest speakers. McKinzey Saig,  PR and communications leader at Marcus Thomas LLC, shared her work on the Vitamix campaign to showcase the value that agencies bring to brands. Agencies give their clients the flexibility to have more or less PR and a broader perspective. 

Chelsea Penfield, media relations and content strategist at Marcus Thomas LLC, shared helpful tips to land an internship and create content. Her unique perspective as someone who has just started in the industry proved her dedication during college helped her succeed outside of the classroom.

 Kendra Davis, PR professional at the Cleveland Foundation, shared the ins and outs of nonprofit PR. The goal of nonprofit PR is to connect people to the mission and show them the impact that the company makes. This is only successful when people believe in your mission and help you achieve it.

Katie Archer, PR professional at Ascensus, helped students explore the importance of internal communications. Internal communication helps employees connect to the direction the company is going and what it is doing to get there. When working in internal communications, it is important to understand all the communication that is happening between different departments to not overwhelm employees with too much information.

Finally, students had the opportunity to speak with more professionals through speed networking. This event was a great way for students to learn about the many opportunities available in the PR industry and connect with students at other universities.