Engaging high school and college students– an association chapter story with staying power

Updated: Sep. 12, 2022  |  Categories: Decreasing Membership  

You’re watching your chapter members get older, while probably also seeing membership decrease, as some of those older members retire and leave your chapter (read our blog post with ideas for changing that and getting retirees to stick around).

For your chapter to survive – and thrive -- you need to do more than keep your older members; your association chapter engagement plan needs ideas for bringing in a steady stream of younger members. An influx of younger members can change the trajectory of your association chapter but engaging with the younger Millennial and Gen Z generations, among others, and getting them to join is an on-going challenge for so many chapters.

Have you brainstormed ways to better connect with this group, to share what it is you do, pique their interest, and connect them to your chapter before they even realize they need you? Here are a few ideas and a “mini case study” that shows you how one of our clients – the Inland Empire chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA IE) – is doing just that.

Start in High School

Connecting with high school students is a great way to explore with them what it means to work in your industry. Consider things like:

• Talking with guidance counselors and make presentations to students – virtually and in person – about your industry, what it is and the different types of job opportunities
• Providing chances to shadow some of your members in a typical work environment/workday
• Creating materials that discuss your industry and your chapter in language high school students will understand and relate to
• Offering a mentorship program
• Having free memberships for high school students.

Introduce them to your industry while offering help they need in the near term, like information about the profession they may want to explore in college, knowledge about how to go to college, what to do when they get there, and how to pay for it.

Starting in high school lets you show them how great it is to work in your profession, while providing you with a pipeline of potential chapter members and people who may want to work in your industry. High school isn’t too early to share your association chapter message, as long as everyone clearly understands it’s the start of a long process.

Keep the Relationship Strong in College and After Graduation

Once these students enter college, many are overwhelmed with:  

• Getting (and keeping) a high GPA
• Figuring out what they want to do after graduation and landing the right job
• Building their personal brand and a professional image
• Dealing with stress
• and much more.

Your association chapter is full of experts who have navigated what they’re experiencing. As with high school students, you can deliver presentations to college students virtually and on campus. Expand these presentations to cover topics like salary negotiations, diversity in the workplace, etc., and help them prepare for what comes after graduation.

This group is more focused on starting a career path, so this is the perfect time to offer college student chapter memberships. Show them the value of joining your chapter now – at a reduced price – and how that membership can help them get through college and be a stronger employee when they get to their first job.

Student Engagement Success Story:  PRSA

Mary Ann Pearson, Ed.D., APR, Director – APR & Chapter Representative, Western District for PRSA IE – shared two association chapter college-level programs they’re using successfully to engage college students– Shadow Month and Sponsorship of a PR graduate – and get them interested in their industry and their chapter.

Local universities promote these programs to their students through social media, with PRSA IE posting on these accounts as well to promote them.

To make things go smoothly, Mary Ann says, “We have a board member dedicated to serving as a liaison to the PRSSA chapters. These programs are managed by this board member and other volunteers.”  

Feedback on both programs has been overwhelmingly positive, with Mary Ann adding that they are still “friends with many graduates who remain grateful for the assistance.”

Shadow Month – Support Students & Help Prepare Future Professionals

Early each year, 10 to 15 college students participate in the PRSA IE Shadow Days. PRSA IE members host a student for a workday virtual or onsite visit to their agency. This can include attending meetings, reviewing projects, etc.

The Shadow Days program began in January 2020 “as the pandemic was just on the horizon,” says Mary Ann, after she and other board members attended a PRSA Western District board meeting and heard about other chapters holding Shadow Days. PRSA IE volunteers connected with two PRSA student chapters at local universities, and several PRSA IE members volunteered to host students for in person or online Shadow meetings.

The chapter asks for volunteers and interested students in January and meetings take place in February and March. A group of chapter members is also available for mentoring and sessions as needed throughout the year.

Sponsor a PR Graduate and Help Them Become a PRSA Associate Member

Recent college graduates join PRSA IE as associate members, with their reduced association chapter membership and event attendance covered through a fund set up by chapter members. They sponsor eight to ten students each year.

More than a decade ago, PRSA IE began depositing funds and proceeds from hosting the PRSA Western District Conference into an account to cover these costs. “We use the funds,” Mary Ann explains, “to pay for students to attend our luncheons, meetings, and conferences.”

These individuals get the chance to see the value the chapter provides without worrying about how they’ll pay for it. In addition to providing financial assistance (they thank donors at events, on the PRSA IE website and in social media), members help these students by acting as mentors and connecting them with others.

The program began formally in 2013, although Mary Ann says “PRSA IE has always helped students.”

Students can also get financial help transitioning to full membership; interested students write an essay requesting member sponsorship and the board considers the request.

Valerie Hernandez joined PRSA IE in 2019 as a full member after graduating and received that sponsorship. Graduating in the era of COVID, Hernandez, social media specialist for Loma Linda University Health, believes her PRSA IE membership has been critical to her success. “Everyone was trying to navigate the uncertainty,” she explains, “but we were doing it together as members, and although the events went to zoom, it was helpful to hear how professionals were pivoting in a time of chaos.”

The connections she’s made since joining – a former PRSA IE board member recommended her for her current position – are critical to where she is today. “I was barely dipping my toe in the PR field,” she says, “I did not know anyone nor what part of PR I wanted to go into. The advice, and the knowledge that is shared with every event, and the talks PRSA IE host, are what helped me decide what field I wanted,” and they helped her understand how to use the tools she needed to do her job.

Hernandez has given back to PRSA IE since becoming a member, first joining the board as their VP of Communications. Today, she’s their Director of Polaris Awards, an annual award show they hold to recognize “exemplary public relations efforts that successfully incorporate sound research, planning, implementation, and evaluation.”

The time to start finding new members is before they’re even considering it

You don’t want your 55-year-old members to be your youngest members. If they are, your chapter won’t survive. Start early, before students are even considering what they want to do in a career; when the value of association chapter membership isn’t something they’re thinking about; they may not know what a chapter association is; or they think association chapters are just for old people. Show them value early and see what can happen once they’re ready to join.

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