Douglas College holds annual practicum

Douglas College marketing students demonstrate their expertise

By Carlos Bilan, Staff Writer

The Douglas College Foundation and Envision Financial will be holding their annual marketing practicum on April 11, in the Aboriginal Gathering Place—room S4650 of Douglas College’s New Westminster campus.

“Our Envision programming allows us to build capacity in the non-profit sector and extend our students’ learning opportunities outside the classroom,” said Christina Cawkell, marketing instructor from the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration.

“This year, we are working with a non-profit youth service called Encompass, as well as a social enterprise Food Truck businesses for Sources BC, which runs a number of programs in the social sector for people in need,” Cawkell said in an interview “The Envision funding gives me the opportunity to budget for tangible marketing assets these non-profits could otherwise not afford, and exposes the students to things like video production and website development, as well as exposure to VIPs from across the college and Envision in their showcase on April 12.”

She said that the practicum is a great learning experience for marketing students, and it helps other’s not-for-profits as well.”

“The students gain experience with non-profits in the community and they solve real marketing challenges for them, while the non-profit walks away with something they can use in the future,” Cawkell said. “Without Envision’s sponsorship we wouldn’t be able to go to that next level and really partner students with the non-profit community. It sounds cheesy, but it truly is a win-win.”

Alexandra Nicoara, Vice President of Marketing of the Douglas College Business Association, did a presentation for her final semester of the Marketing Management Diploma program, and talked about her experience doing her practicum in 2014 with the Tri-City Transitions Society and creating materials for them.

“We also created a video for Tri-City Transitions Society that they put on their website, and Envision sponsored all of that.”

Nicoara said that there were positive reactions to her group’s presentation of their work, and was happy about the opportunity to work for the not-for-profit.

“I think it’s a really great program because these non-profits don’t have the money or budget to actually spend on a marketing campaign. So, applying for this program gives them the opportunity to work with students who are marketing students, like myself,” Nicoara said. “And it’s a really great practice [for the students] because we do campaigns that actually happen in the real world, because it’s for an actual company.”