In Professor David Brown’s Public Relations capstone course, Marissa Reale, KLN ‘18,  Mary Strehl, KLN ‘18, Jenny Lynch, KLN ‘18,  Terra Kliwinski, KLN ‘18 and Kacie Ricciotti, KLN ‘18, hosted a campaign alongside With Purpose, a community-led organization working to help fight pediatric cancer, which led to a nomination for the Public Relations Society of America’s Bateman Award.

“We’ve been so lucky and fortunate with everything,” said Marissa Reale.

The Bateman Competition invites students across the nation in groups of four or five to submit their public relations campaign for With Purpose. The project timeline involves planning between November and February, implementation between February and March, and a final evaluation in April—the same time as the Bateman Competition.

Brown’s capstone course is a two-semester course that allows public relations students to delve into the world of public relations by going through each stage of a campaign: planning, implementation and evaluation. The group began planning its first event last semester, and was relieved to see the immense success it brought.

“We not only connected with the community in Philly, but it was also connecting volunteers at Temple and really going back to that youth-led and community driven [mentality] that With Purpose is all about,” said Reale.

The group hosted a Play with Purpose day at Smith Memorial Playground to offer parents and kids the opportunity to enjoy an afternoon together. There were games, face painting, music, yoga and refreshments from sponsors, including Lee’s Hoagie House, Saxbys and the Philly Pretzel Factory.

Play With Purpose was held on Presidents Day to invite as many parents and children to play as possible, providing fun and therapeutic value to attendees. The event was open to anyone in the community. It was also completely free for participants and, even without explicitly asking for donations, the group was able to raise over $300.

The event was covered by iHeartMedia stations, NBC10, Philadelphia Family, CBS3, KYW radio, Fox 29 and 6ABC. The Phillie Phanatic even made a special guest appearance. The group grabbed the attention of news sites through their own media outreach through press releases, media alerts and personal connections.

“We could celebrate this day in the most classic ‘Philly-way’ possible,” said Reale.

The group has a few more campaigns planned for this semester. One kicked off over spring break, in which students were asked to post about their plans on social media and spread the word about this program.

“We want to activate all the voices we can and get this whole message out,” said Reale. “So the challenge is posting about what you do with purpose. Anything you’re doing over break, do it with purpose.”

The group was also excited when, on March 15, the PECO Crown Lights displayed the With Purpose message.

“They’re so great and one of the things I have to resist doing is getting too involved in their campaigns. Play With Purpose was their idea, the social media campaign was theirs, the With Purpose Day on campus,” said Professor David Brown. “It’s all them and I’m proud to be with them.”

The With Purpose organization offers college branches for students to be more involved and work to spread their message and speak to the urgency of pediatric cancer. Reale hopes that as the message spreads about their campaign, other students will be inspired to start a branch at Temple.