The concepts I learned in my journalism class, The Carolina Agency, influenced the strategies I chose to brand, Carolina Can, a community service project. The Carolina Agency is a student-led public relations firm. I learned how to increase involvement and awareness in an organization by rebranding.

        As president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), I founded a community service project called Carolina Can. Carolina Can is a food drive competition with Clemson University. Harvest Hope, the Columbia food bank dedicated to distributing food and feeding the hungry, is sponsoring the competition locally. This community service project impacted the student body by raising students’ awareness of poverty and hunger in the Columbia area. Carolina Can has also united other USC student organizations in a friendly competition against Clemson University. Further, it provided an opportunity to rebrand The Carolina Agency.

        The Carolina Agency gave me the knowledge to understand the concepts I needed in order to become a team leader and create a service project while serving on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. A primary goal in class was to spread awareness of The Carolina Agency and the reasons why students should enroll in the course. During the service project, SAAC worked with other student organizations like Student Government and Greek life while encouraging those students to enroll in the class. To promote both opportunities, we made brochures and flyers that help update students about the progress of Carolina Can and benefits of The Carolina Agency. For example, all food collected during the service project fed hungry people in the community, while The Carolina Agency counts as three credit hours, can enhance your resume, provides materials for interviews, and offers networking opportunities. The artifact labeled, The Carolina Agency Facebook and Instagram Page, helped update the student body about the daily accomplishments The Carolina Agency was promoting. This Facebook page reached over 1,000 views and spread the word about the agency. The artifact labeled, Carolina Can Video, helped spread awareness of the community service project and why students should get invovled. In The Carolina Agency, I also learned rebranding involves many rounds of trial and error. We worked with outside connections such as graphic designers, a marketing crew, and a public relations specialist. I learned ways to utilize these connections through the student body, a free resource.  However, when forming Carolina Can, I concentrated on turning to experts and faculty for assistance. Utilizing resources efficiently is one way to help rebrand.

        The concepts I learned in The Carolina Agency influenced the strategies I chose to brand the community service project and rebrand the course. Learning about rebranding and the different elements that are involved extended my knowledge beyond the classroom to help improve the food drive for next year and spread the awareness about and encourage involvement in important community service projects on campus.