Best of CASE District VI Award
 

Institution: Washington University in St. Louis

Title of entry: In St. Louis For St. Louis

About this entry: We wanted to tell a story that addresses three salient issues affecting higher education, in general, and WashU, in particular:
1) Many believe elite universities are failing to prepare students for the workforce. WashU is providing a range of funded opportunities that help students leverage the knowledge they’ve obtained in the classroom to succeed in the “real world.”
2) Unpaid internships perpetuate inequality and disadvantage those students who cannot afford to work for free. Washington University is stepping up where local businesses and nonprofit cannot – providing students generous stipends and, in many cases, housing.
3) To thrive, St. Louis needs WashU and its students. Students who stay here for the summer are making important contributions to St. Louis startups, nonprofits and businesses while fueling the local economy through their spending.
To do so, we dived deep into the summer stipend programs and profiled the students they served. We told the story in multiple ways and on multiple channels. First we published the story in the Record, the university's daily newsletter, and the Source, our news site. We then created Instagram posts highlighting the experiences of the five featured students. We also supplied our partners with photography for them to use on their own platforms. The result was a package with significant reach both internally and externally that raised awareness about the university's significant investment in students and the region.
See the work here:
https://source.wustl.edu/2022/09/summer-in-st-louis-washu-funds-internships-at-st-louis-startups-nonprofits/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CkdnI26rWli/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/p/CkW8r5bDp-T/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/p/CkRN9C-Po5p/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/p/CkBv5qCPxS6/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj859qRvgNF/?hl=en