Advertising students bead their way to New York

Algonquin College’s advertising and marketing communications program hosted a beading workshop on Feb. 12 to fundraise for their program trip to New York Advertising Week in September.

N-building’s room 204 was decorated with red tablecloths, roses and hearts as the event’s organizers displayed bracelets they made for sale while offering a space for students to make their own.

Prices for the displayed bracelets ranged from $7 to $12, while participating in bracelet making was $5. All proceeds went toward the program’s trip to New York this fall.

Victoria Conwell, a Level 4 student in the advertising program and one of the event’s organizers, said there will be industry leaders at the conference in New York and it will be “a really good experience for ad program students.”

The fall will mark the 21st Advertising Week in New York and will offer a variety of speakers, events, networking opportunities, live performances and conferences. Former speakers include actor Terry Crews, Grammy Award-winning artist Lil Jon, journalist and former NFL player Michael Strahan and senior vice president of global partnership marketing for The Walt Disney Company Mindy Hamilton.

Margaret McBrearty, another advertising student planning to go to New York, said her program will be hosting various fundraisers before their trip to New York.

“There may be some bake sales, thrift stores, and future events coming as well,” said McBrearty.

Vishwa Solanki, a Level 4 advertising student, said the bracelet-making fundraiser was an idea from the program’s Glue Agency course.

“Glue Agency is the foundation agency we have in our semester for having a real-life agency work experience where we get real clients and work on them with the team together. Moving on, we’ll have Slide and Dig Agency which is more in-depth,” said Solanki.

The Slide and Dig Agencies are courses, like the Glue Agency, that introduce work experiences to the students as they progress through their program.

“A part of our assignment that we have is fundraising for the trip, which is a really nice factor that we were able to implement,” said McBrearty.

Beading alongside the event organizers and other students was professor and program coordinator Liz Babiak.

“I’m one of the profs that gets to go, so we love this trip. It’s been going on for a really long time,” said Babiak.

When deciding on her bracelet theme, Rebekah Lailson, a student in the animation program, was inspired by Valentine’s Day.

“I’m enjoying the activity so far, I think it’s cool they’re fundraising,” said Lailson.

Advertising students are planning another fundraiser to be held on March 18 in the E-building.