Are you interested in working hands-on with the planning of a major concert in town? How about a internship with Capital One or USAA? No?

What about landing a job at a production company like KENS5 or WOAI? Members of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) had these opportunities.

“PRSSA is a pre-professional student organization. Our current officers are trying really hard to make this the best opportunity for our members,” said Margret Ginter, senior and president of the PRSSA.

Student organizations are great ways to interact with other students interested in the same field, as well as to meet professionals, interact in real-world settings, and network.

“Members in PRSSA have really great opportunities when it comes to benefits,” said Ginter. “There are opportunities for networking, getting internships, shadow days, which is just a couple of hours for a couple of days following a Public Relations professional and going through their routine and whatever else exciting things they might do and even maybe getting a job. And it’ll also look good on your resume.”

Shadowing days are important for students wanting to go into a field that’s so broad like Public Relations because there are so many different types of public relations field that people can work in. Shadowing days give students a good grasp on how different professionals work.

PRSSA isn’t just another student organization. It’s also a part of a public relations firm called Unity PR.  “Unity PR is our mini firm that we use to represent PRSSA and what we’ve learned to the test. Unity PR works with non-profit organizations that are willing to work with our student firm. And it’s a great way for someone to put on their resume’ because it’s something they actually did for public relations,” said Ginter.

You don’t have to be in public relations to able to join PRSSA. “The criteria for joining PRSSA is basically being a communication major; however, there is a $70 application fee,” said Ginter. “We run fund raisers to able to fund a couple of our members to go to conferences and conventions put on by PRSA, which is the main Public Relations Society of America, around the nation.

PRSSA takes what it does very seriously. Ginter explains, “It is what you make out of it. Some of our members work really hard to get the internshipsor even jobs that they got out of being in PRSSA. The whole organization in general works really hard to try to be the best that we can be and do the things that we do.”