Hands-on opportunities on campus can serve as an asset toward student success.

Just look at Popcycle, a retail pop-up series that brings together multiple brands to show off and sell one-of-a-kind fashions. The Popcycle series is especially appealing to creatives in schools other than the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, since they had to learn their skills hands-on rather than through an academic curriculum.

Newhouse and Whitman offer many opportunities for projects and hands-on academic work. But there are other ways to get involved in experiential learning opportunities on campus to sharpen skillsets. Studies have found that active learning, such as hands-on activities, is a more effective way of learning new information than traditional lectures.

In contrast to lecture learning, hands-on learning allows students to be more focused, involved and engaged in various concepts. Practicing skills allows students to not only hone their skills but strengthen them.

Popcycle is a perfect example of how non-Newhouse and non-Whitman students experience real-life situations. Junior Ben Goldsmith, the CEO of the startup, is a communication and rhetorical studies major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

“I have always had a passion for projects, and I look at this as a project,” said Goldsmith. “I also love branding, marketing, advertising. I think it’s so much fun.”

Goldsmith co-founded Popcycle this past September with sophomore Jackson Ensley, a marketing major in Whitman who acts as CMO of the startup.

“Regardless of major, everyone here is very well-networked and know a lot of people. And it’s very exciting to be able to enter into their web of connections and build relationships with people,” Goldsmith said.

Over time, Goldsmith and Ensley kept growing a list of potential brands with which to meet and develop a relationship. Goldsmith also reached out to SU alumni and Whitman professors to request to sit in their classes without being enrolled to learn more about entrepreneurship.

“Throughout this year I have been on LinkedIn reaching out to alums who are in the field I’m interested in being one day, trying to schedule a phone call and ask them about what they do,” Goldsmith said.

Although it’s required to be a Whitman or Newhouse student to use a majority of Whitman or Newhouse resources, there is still a variety of resources every SU student has access to.

Every SU student has access to all Whitman and Newhouse activities and events, and a variety of websites. Handshake — Syracuse University’s job, and internship database — and Big Interview — a website that students to practice and record interviews. All these resources help students prepare for their careers.

“We noticed that there are a lot of very creative people on campus who are involved in fashion,” said Goldsmith. “And we saw them as having trouble marketing their clothing because of the saturation in the market.”

Ensley added the duo has a list of 10 to 15 brands they’re trying to reach out to. He said they’re going to take market research of sales and find what the target market wants.

Popcycle tries to get different brands that target different target markets, the founders said. A typical retail store must pick who they wish to target, while Popcycle doesn’t have a specific target audience. They’re trying to reach all demographics because they have various brands, said Ensley.

“We just bounce ideas off each other until we get the result that we like,” said Ensley. “It’s free-flowing.”

The key to success for any business is authenticity, and pop-ups excel at this. Each event provides a unique one-of-a-kind experience for customers. No matter if you want students to shop at a store that lacks a voice as people use various merchandise as a way to express themselves.

Pop-ups are more than just a trend. They’re breaking the traditional trend of retail, making them the retail environment of the future. Even more importantly, they’re emphasizing work experience over education.

What truly sets applicants apart is their previous work experience. This includes internships, jobs, involvement in student organizations, volunteer work, projects, and hobbies. And, although Newhouse and Whitman students may have exclusive access to certain resources, there are still resources that all SU students have access to gain valuable and relevant work experience.

Higher education doesn’t determine how successful students may be in the real world. It only proves that they can be successful in academia.

 

Jenna Wirth is a sophomore studying magazine journalism. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at jwirth@syr.edu. She can be followed on Twitter at @jenna__wirth.

Published on February 13, 2020 at 12:07 am