Tune in as we follow a past CreateAthon team leaders' experience, after the creative blitz has ended.
Ian Taylor, Team Leader 2012 - Sportable
What organization (and year) did you work with?
Sportable 2012
What do they do? They offer sports programs to people with physical disabilities.
What is unique about the organization versus others of its kind? They work with people of all ages.
What were some of the challenges about working on this particular organization? They just went through a rebranding period with an ad agency, so coming up with new ideas to spread the name of Sportable.
How did the CreateAthon event go? It was amazingly a great time. One of the highlights of my college education.
What was the client's response like? It was amazing seeing them so excited and happy with the final products.
Would you recommend getting involved with CreateAthon? Yes, it's a lot of hard work but it pays off in the end when you see how your client reacts to all the work you did. Truly an amazing experience.
Stickers | Kid's Web Site Design
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Jolinda Smithson Talks CreateAthon
Professional Designer and VCU adjunct professor, Jolinda Smithson, tells us how CreateAthon has affected her and the students around her.
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Spencer Woodall, Team Leader 2012 - Area Congregations Together in Service (ACTS)
What organization (and year) did you work with? Spring 2012; Area Congregations Together in Service (ACTS)
What do they do? Provide assistance to those in need, whom a local church sponsors in an effort to prevent homelessness.
What is unique about the organization versus other of its kind? They are focused on preventing homelessness rather than helping people after they have become homeless, which is better because it allows individuals to stay in their comfort zone rather than ending up in other
dire situations.
What were some of the challenges about working on this particular organization? Trying to figure out who their target audience was because it could in fact be anyone that is passionate about helping others. Other than that everything else was pretty much smooth sailing.
How did the CreateAthon event go? It was a very successful event, my team and I could not have collaborated any better than we did. We had a little bit of a time crunch towards the end due to the fact that we had one member leave half way through, so we were one man down, but we were able to more than compensate for it.
What was the clients' response like? My clients enjoyed everything we did, they were over-joyed with everything, and were more than appreciative of the work we had done.
Would you recommend getting involved with CreateAthon? Of course, I bring it up in any conversation where I see an open window and I am always recommending it to other students who have yet to hear about it, or who have heard about it but never really applied.
Web PAge Design | Web Site Design | Pamphlet
Documents above were created by Spencer Woodall & His CreateAthon Team------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt Whitt, GO! Team Member 2012 - CreateAthon on Campus
What organization (and year) did you work with? CreateAthon OnCampus 2012
What do they do? They are a college student-based advertising/design/marketing nonprofit organization that provides these services to other local non-profit organizations.
What is unique about the organization versus other of its kind? They are a nonprofit that helps out nonprofits.
What were some of the challenges about working on this particular organization? They spend so much time working for other nonprofits that they have little time to focus on the needs of themselves.
How did the CreateAthon event go? Stressful, fun, awkward, tears (of stress AND joy). My team created most of what we sought out to complete, but there were slight rifts that formed within the group, and my whole team was not at the skill-level that I was told/hoped/needed; this particular cog caused my team to not end up where I had originally envisioned. The video was very successful, but the other components seemed like they fell under the hypothetical category.
What was the clients' response like? Peyton (my client) was brought to tears from the work that we did because, again, she spends so much time helping other organizations that, she rarely has the time to step back and help out HER organization.
Would you recommend getting involved with CreateAthon? Without any doubts in my mind, I would recommend it to anyone that plans on having any kind of interaction with clients or plans to go into the advertising/marketing/design fields.
CoC Layout | CoC Booklet
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What will you create in 2013?
CreateAthon 2012 has come and gone, but here's some inspiration to get things moving in 2013...
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Stephanie Polickoski, Team Leader 2012 - VASS
What organization (and year) did you work with? I worked with Virginia Advanced Study Strategies (VASS) in CreateAthon 2012.
What do they do? VASS is one of the six pioneer state programs selected by the National Math and Science Initiative to engage schools with best practices that will increase the number of students taking Advanced Placement (AP) classes in math, science, and English, and to increase the number of students attaining qualifying scores (3, 4, or 5) on the corresponding AP Exams.
Founded in 2007, VASS is a Non-Profit Organization partnering with schools to develop AP and Pre-AP classes in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Most careers available to American students will require college majors in these areas.
What is unique about the organization versus others of its kind? VASS provides students with the opportunity to take AP exams, but unlike College Board (who is the provider of the AP program across the country) VASS focuses more on STEM courses to help give students the opportunity to obtain jobs in the field of STEM.
How did the CreateAthon event go? The event was amazing. There was a lot of buildup and anticipation to the event, causing the emotions to be heightened. During the event our group communicated extremely well. We brainstormed, made mind maps, and eventually made our way to the computers where we put our ideas into action.
What was the clients' response like? Initially, the clients were kind of complacent about what was produced; there was a slight miscommunication on what the expectations were, so the campaign we had initially pitched to them, they had turned down. Because of this, I took time out from my schedule to go back over the project, evaluate, and consider what needed to be done.
Would you recommend getting involved with CreateAthon? If you have a will of any kind to do some good, then ABSOLUTELY!