Academic departments are always working on giving students real world experience that they can carry with them throughout their careers.

Students and faculty of the communication department are collaborating with the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership to present the annual trade show that is being held this Thursday.

The Erie Regional Chamber is forming a 3/50 campaign, which is a national initiative hoping to convince consumers to shop locally.

Around 25 students of the Communication Campaigns course have worked to help promote the initiative.

They were first divided into six groups, and each group represented a different business sector such as: bars and restaurants, sports and recreation, arts and entertainment and professor services.

Junior Christopher Gaertner, is a part of a group that has created a presentation titled Sandbox CMG where he describes the work that has been put into this nine-week process.

“My group has been focusing on local retail and shopping stores, specifically three that will be highlighted at the trade show,” said Gaertner. “This has been a very rewarding process as it gives us real experience on how to work with different companies and business professionals on how to run a trade show.”

Communications department chair Meghan Corbin says that the work that the students have put into this trade show displays a range of the educational experience that they have learned during their last three or four years.

“It provides the students with a tangible representation of what they would actually do in the real world,” Corbin said.

Each group created a marketing campaign that reaches out to the given sectors and designs a booth that will be presented to a panel of judges.

“Many of us will have to do this regularly once we graduate so having this practice now is really helpful to all of us,” Gaertner said.

It is important that future employers are looking at someone with a range of experience, so having this opportunity in the classroom can be very beneficial.

“We hope that this hands-on experience will help prepare them to enter the professional world of communication,” Corbin said.

The Communications Trade Show is being held on Thursday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Student Union.

The event is free and open to the public.

For questions or information, contact Meghan Corbin at mcorbin@mercyhurst.edu or via phone at (814)824-3389.