THON may be over, but some Penn State students are continuing to fight pediatric cancer in other ways around campus. Penn State’s Public Relations Student Society of America, or PRSSA, is tackling a new campaign to get childhood cancer more funding.
PRSSA National annually hosts a public relations competition and Penn State’s chapter is proudly participating this year. Team member Meghan Reinhardt gave VALLEY all of the details on the new campaign.
This year, the competition’s client is “Without Purpose, an organization dedicated to fighting pediatric cancer as well as finding safer and more efficient treatments,” Meghan says.
Reinhardt says that Penn State’s PRSSA was shocked to learn that “only 4 percent of the National Cancer Institute’s funding goes towards pediatric cancer research.” To call attention to this, the team is aiming to have 4 percent of the Penn State student population sign a petition to increase allocated funding. This petition will be mailed to legislators in hope of making a change.
The campaign’s theme is “#Stuck in the ’70s” because pediatric cancer research and treatment has made few steps forward since the 1970s. To call attention to this, the team recently hosted a 70s themed photo booth in the HUB. In the future, they will be sending 70s themed boxes to legislators with photos and postcards inside.
Reinhardt tells VALLEY, “this cause is important to me because it’s a cause that I, as a Penn Stater, have been working to help since I was a freshman…I am able to help a similar cause in With Purpose by utilizing everything I’ve learned about public relations, as well as learning a ton along the way.”
The team working on the campaign is made up of senior public relations majors Meghan Reinhardt, Kayla Ramans, Ann Klinck, Maddie Woodrow and Morisa Young. VALLEY wishes the team luck in the competition.
