The Girl Scouts of Connecticut are teaming up with University of New Haven’s advanced television class to find an advertisement that will increase Girl Scout enrollment.

The students in Professor Wayne Edwards’ class are getting a chance to have their advertisements run in the Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s media campaign, to be seen by all of Connecticut. Edwards explained having the knowledge to produce real-world content prepares students to move out into the working force and proficiently execute their jobs. Edwards explained the benefits this would provide students when future employers could see the accomplishment.

“Employers love to see that,” said Edwards.

Students have been broken into groups of three to create different advertisements, only one of which will be published on the Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s website and social media. One group is putting together a “sizzle reel,” a short, fast paced and colorful ad to attract young girls to the “Girl Scout Camp.” Another group is producing a video for “camp CEO,” a camp for young girls to get inspired by female executives. The third group’s advertisement is a testimonial for the organization with previous and current Girl Scouts.

“I like having the opportunity to get my name out there and start building my resume,” said junior Nicole Ritsick. “I’m doing ‘Camp CEO,’ I can’t wait to see what the executives think of it. It would be great exposure to win this thing.”

Edwards said the project “fits like a glove” into the university’s experiential education curriculum. He explained that students put more effort into projects like this because of the desire to “satisfy the client.”

“They are doing something that is meaningful and something that they know will be recognized,” he said.

Edwards compared books and tests to the project, explaining that students who learn by doing pick things up faster and remember them. Tests on the other hand, force students to just memorize, which fades after a short-time. This has not been the only class Edwards has integrated real world companies with projects.

“Every semester when I come up with the syllabus, I want to make it different, I want to have students producing meaningful content,” he said.

In a few weeks, the class will also be conducting interviews with Girl Scouts of Connecticut in the television studio to further enhance their production skills.

“It’s really not too bad of a deal. We give them advertisements and they give us cookies,” said Ritsick.