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Alumni and Friends Making an Impact

Building Community One PR Emergency at a Time

“We have a bit of a situation this morning,” said Kelsi Steinkamp ’22, to her contact at the Dayton Foodbank.

Steinkamp is one of three account executives for Flyer PR, the University of Dayton’s newly established student-run public relations agency that provides students an opportunity to gain relevant work experience.

And true to the spirit of experiential learning, Steinkamp was getting a real-world public relations lesson on this particular morning — things don’t always go as planned, which is what Natasha Baker ’99 was banking on when she first envisioned Flyer PR.

Flyer PR began in 2021, but the idea was something Baker, a UD communication department lecturer, had been envisioning since her own time at UD. “When I graduated from UD, internship opportunities for public relations students were not plentiful. I wanted students to get real-world experience and thought a student-run agency could fill that void,” said Baker.

Flyer PR has all the components of a real agency. Students work for pro-bono and paid clients, and focus on everything from longer-term media relations and social media campaigns to one-off event planning and product launches. Account executives are paid based on their billable hours, and they are supported by nonpaid practicum students who aspire to one day be account executives. Clients can opt to be on retainer with the agency or sign a contract for a predetermined period of time. 

Steinkamp was instrumental in getting Flyer PR up and running. “Natasha created the plan for the agency, and the account executives created the infrastructure. We wrote the handbook, designed a logo and created the website — all of which was great practical experience that will serve us well in our careers,” said Steinkamp. She also credits her involvement in Flyer Consulting, another UD-based experiential learning initiative, with giving her the business planning knowledge that informed the startup of the agency.

In just one short year, Flyer PR has a handful of clients, including the Dayton Independent Film Festival and Keener Farms Charitable Organization. “Now that the infrastructure is in place, we let students take the lead in working with their clients and taking on projects,” said Baker.

Keener Farms Charitable Organization is Steinkamp’s client. The nonprofit organization raises money to buy cattle from local farmers and then processes it and partners with the Dayton Foodbank to distribute it to food insecure families in the Dayton area.

And all her experiences working with Flyer Consulting and Flyer PR helped Steinkamp remain calm, professional and adapt quickly when she learned her client was still an hour away from arriving at the Hunger Action Month event slated to begin in 15 minutes. Steinkamp quickly coached Karen Keener through a few key talking points so she could do the presentation in the place of her son Matt, president of Keener Farms Charitable Organization.

That situation was exactly the kind of thing Baker wants her students to encounter. “There are certain skills like media relations and crisis PR that are best learned in a hands-on work experience setting. Those situations are difficult to replicate in a classroom setting,” said Baker.

And the combination of classroom knowledge and applicable experience will certainly help Steinkamp in her job search. “Flyer PR not only gives students the opportunity to try out different kinds of public relations work, but arms them with robust practical experiences that make them stand out from other job candidates,” said Baker.

But the benefits of Steinkamp’s experiential learning opportunities extend beyond just resume building.

“College wouldn’t be college without experiential learning. It rounds out the experience, helps you learn about yourself and meet some great friends. It really is where UD community happens: when you commit and get involved,” said Steinkamp.

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