Campus Media’s Annual Volunteer Day

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Armed with a healthy dose of goodwill towards others, Campus Media Group  hit the road for our inaugural volunteer day on Friday. This year we gave back to our community by volunteering at Feed My Starving Children, a Minnesota-based non-profit organization with additional locations in Illinois and Arizona. Their mission – “Feeding God’s Starving Children Hungry in Body and Spirit” – became our mission for the day and we dove in. With our teamwork we were able to help feed 16 kids  every day for an entire year.

It was a fun and rewarding volunteer event for all of us. Not only did we get to help starving children in nearly 70 countries, we got to work as a team towards a noble goal. We are planning to make our volunteer day an annual event – any suggestions on where we should head next year?

For more information about Feed My Starving Children please check out their website.

“Being good is commendable, but only when it is combined with doing good is it useful.” – Unknown
“Take Care of People – People before Paper, People before Profits, People before Self and People before Projects” – by Carol S. Ritter

Related articles

• Volunteering: How Helping Others Helps You
• Darien churches gearing up to ‘Feed My Starving Children’

Hot Cheetos and Takis

The latest viral video comes straight out of our hometown of Minneapolis. Check out the video of these adorable local kids rapping about their favorite snacks.
WARNING, this will be stuck in your head the rest of the day!

Parents: The Coolest Roommates Ever

After graduating from college, I took the next step to becoming a real adult. No, not getting a job, but moving back in with my parents. Besides the home-cooked meals and no bills to pay, the best part was that it did not feel strange. Many other friends who graduated made the same decision, and so had my older brothers. In addition, I was searching for a job very hard. In between TV commercial breaks, of course.

Until recently, I did not know so many young adults were making the decision to live with their parents after college. According to a new Pew Research Survey, 40% of those ages 18-24 are living with their parents. Not all of these young adults moved backed in with their parents, though; some never left home. This means that parents and their college-age kids are spending more time together. More time together means that parents have an influence on students.

Even while still in school, students live with or spend a lot of time with their parents. College summer breaks are long, and many students return home for break. These students living at home often count down the days until they go back to campus. The first two weeks of school are full of non-stop distractions that make youth attention spans even shorter than usual.

Breaking through noise on campus requires planning and a method for reaching students and parents before they arrive on campus.

This can be done in the following three ways:

1. Emailing students

2. Emailing parents

3. Sending direct mail to parents

Students (and parents) will have access to email during the summer regardless of where they are. Using direct mail will reach parents and students at their home residence.

Reaching students isn’t always about being on campus or sending things directly to them. Parents are still holding their college-age kids’ hands later in life, which opens up a new demographic for millennial marketers. These new “roommates” may be as valuable as the students themselves — maybe not the coolest roommates ever, but hey…

For more stats on this topic, click here.

BRAD: Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm

Berkeley student, Derek Lowe, designed and implemented a fully automated dorm room with lots of cool features. The room can be controlled with a remote, a smartphone app, a tablet app, or by voice. The lights, curtains, and alarm clock are all fully automated and have multiple modes, including “Romantic Mode” and “Party Mode.” I’m assuming these aren’t actually used very often, but I appreciate the optimism.

(via)

Related articles

• Check out this fully automated dorm room. In Berkeley, of course (news.cnet.com)
• You’d Never Want To Graduate From This Automated Dorm Room (gizmodo.com.au)
• You’d Never Want To Graduate From this Amazing, Automated College Dorm Room [Video] (gizmodo.com)