Kickstarting Careers: Newhouse Student-Run SU PRSSA and Hill Communications Collaborate in PR Event

Newhouse student-run public relations agency Hill Communications and the Syracuse University chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (SU PRSSA) collaborated earlier this year, hosting an alumni panel and networking event for Newhouse students with healthcare PR agency Chamberlain PR.

The event was conceived in November 2024, when Anthony D’Angelo, professor of practice and chair of the public relations department, reached out to SU PRSSA and Hill Comm with a contact from the NYC-based Chamberlain PR. The Chamberlain team had expressed interested in sending three Newhouse PR alumni to meet with current students, advertise the Chamberlain Graduate Training program and visit classes to discuss healthcare PR.   

After an introductory call with the Chamberlain team, SU PRSSA co-presidents Cara Steves and Emma Harby, and Hill Comm firm director Aviya Garg, got to work on their collaborative event, called “Kickstart Your Career with Chamberlain PR.” 

Below, Steves and Garg share more about their experiences.

SU PRSSA 

The opportunity to lead and plan an event like “Kickstart Your Career with Chamberlain PR” was an invaluable experience and a capstone of my time as co-president of SU PRSSA. When approached with the idea, Emma Harby (co-president of SU PRSSA) and I were passionate about what three PR alumni, all at different stages of their careers, could bring to current Newhouse PR students.  

The panelists, which included Dillon Williams ’24, graduate trainee; Zoe Schafer ’22, senior account executive; and Stephanie Bukantz ’08, senior vice president; focused on answering questions about agency life, the work they do and how students can gain a competitive edge in the industry. The advice shared was thoughtful and tangible. Specifically, Zoe shared the importance of maintaining confidence in early career stages without having an ego, a sentiment that stood out to me. Directly following the panel, students were invited to a networking event for conversations with the panelists.  

The event marked many milestones for SU PRSSA. Not only was it our highest turnout of the year, engaging nearly 70 students, but students across all ages and stages of their time in the PR department got involved. At the networking event, first-year students shook hands with the panelists, introduced themselves and asked thoughtful questions about healthcare PR. It was a great feeling to know that our members took full advantage of the opportunity.  

We also celebrated our first collaboration of the year between SU PRSSA and Hill Comm. It was rewarding to work with another team that is equally dedicated to fostering professional development for its members.  

The energy that the Chamberlain team brought to the event sparked a newfound excitement for post-grad, agency life and launching my future career in PR. I hope that energy impacted all attendees as much as it did me.  

Hill Communications  

At Hill Communications, our e-board shares a common goal: to find ways to connect our members with the wider PR industry. It is always an exciting time to welcome back alumni to our campus to showcase how Newhouse has grown and to hear firsthand about their career journeys. For this event specifically, both SU PRSSA and our firm aimed to set the tone for the event as casual, inviting and candid. In our PR classes, we often discuss future responsibilities, collaboration and industry innovations, but we don’t have a ton of conversations about how to identify the right career path or take the necessary steps to land a job. Our attendees and I were eager to hear how our alumni successfully navigated networking, found their place in the industry and knew that Chamberlain was a good fit for them.  

Dillon, who held my position as firm director just last year, served as an inspiring example. Our members who had gotten to know him during his undergraduate years were so impressed with how far he’s advanced in his career considering he graduated less than a year ago. His position as a graduate trainee displayed the qualities job seekers in the audience should look for in their future roles and companies. He demonstrated to all of us that you can make a real impact in the industry from day one of joining your team.  

For many of our attendees, this was their first introduction to healthcare communications. I think during the promotional stage of this event, students were unsure how the two industries were related, but the conversation we had helped them to bridge that gap. I had a few students come up to me at our networking event to express that they’ve never considered working in healthcare PR, but that Stephanie, Zoe and Dillon’s passion for their work sparked their curiosity to look deeper into it.  

This is exactly why we do what we do:  expose students to new and unexpected corners of the communications industry, helping them discover paths they may not have previously considered.