Trinity student interns in the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing act as key members in what the office calls the “street team,” a group with the goals of informing current students, prospective students, parents and alumni of events happening on campus.
The project started a new endeavor this past summer to notify members of the Trinity community about what happens on campus in the summer months when many students have left. Abel Ramos, digital marketing manager for Strategic Communications and Marketing, worked closely with the interns over the summer.
“We ended up having a series on Instagram and Snapchat and got a lot of really cool engagement. [The street team] was able to capture a lot of content that our office otherwise wouldn’t have the time or resources to do,” Ramos said. “This summer, we were able to hire a couple of interns, and the goal was really to show off everything that goes on at Trinity over the summer.”
The street team is behind many social media posts on behalf of Trinity, covering events on campus or introducing students to different organizations.
Junior Sophie Dwyer is currently an intern for Strategic Communications and Marketing and a member of the street team. She worked in the office over the summer with one other intern, senior Ben Klinkenberg.
“I started learning about a lot of different ways to retrieve content, like with cameras: photography, videography. In our street team, we all have different designations, but in general, we kind of overlap,” Dwyer said. “Over the summer, Ben and I did all the things.”
Senior Alison Farb, marketing assistant and another member of the street team, emphasized how important the benefits of the street team are for students. Students are more informed of activities on campus, so they have the opportunity to become involved in events or organizations that interest them.
“Our goal is to help [students] find an interest they didn’t know they had, or basically just to provide something new and make it approachable,” Farb said.
While Strategic Communications and Marketing frequently works with other university departments — such as Admissions and Alumni Relations — the street team has a more personal approach because they live on campus and have more access to student activities.
“We have a good number of people that work in Strategic Communications and Marketing, but there’s only so many hours in a day, and we’re really only here for eight out of the 24 hours of the day,” Ramos said. “We can lean on the street team to really tell us what is going on.”
The student interns on the street team work with supervisors in Strategic Communications and Marketing, but they are encouraged to work on their own and develop their own professional skills.
“We’re allowed to take command of our own inspirations,” Dwyer said. “I was just walking to dinner and I saw people carving pumpkins, so I took a picture and sent it in to get posted. I think that’s cool because we’re also learning about our own community.”
The street team also supplies on-campus groups with easy access to representatives in the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing.
“For current students, [the street team] provides a more approachable group — or if you’re in a club or a sport on campus and you want to get it featured, you know who to talk to. From a prospective student’s standpoint, we allow Trinity to showcase current students and the opportunities they’ve had here,” Farb said.
To follow the work of Strategic Communications and Marketing and the street team, follow them on Instagram @trinityu, on Snapchat @leeroythetiger, on Twitter @Trinity_U and on Facebook, Trinity University.
