RAPID CITY, SD – A first-of-its-kind event gave students from Oglala Lakota College (OLC) an opportunity to learn more about the marketing and graphic design career Friday at Elevate Rapid City.
Here are things to know about this event:
22 photos of the workshop:
The workshops
Graphic design majors from OLC stopped by Elevate Rapid City for a panel at 11 pm
There are professionals shared things such as how to stand out from the other applicants, what to watch out for in your resumes and ways to learn from the jobs you might not get.
After the panel, everyone enjoyed a meal before moving to Black Hills Energy to see their marketing and to watch how graphic designers work.
Why it’s important to a former student
“Having this event today was really beneficial to the students who are going to be moving on in the future in the graphic design industry.” Lis Martinez, OLC Alumna, said. “Even me, already being out there, I learned a lot more about how much further I want to go with my journey and a lot more information on if I decide to go somewhere else in the future or things like that. The panelists gave a lot of really good tips to the students on how to kind of get themselves out there better and form those connections by doing different tasks and stuff like that in the field.”
Why it’s important to a teacher
“I think this is important, but it helps them prepare for the next step. When you’re in school, when you’re in college, it’s sometimes hard to envision,” Marty Two Bulls Jr., art educator at OLC, said. “Like what do I do after I graduate? How do I find work? What are the other opportunities available to me? Being an artist and a graphic designer is often times like – it’s a creative career path. There’s not always one way to do things, you know? For instance, I teach now. I never really planned on being a teacher in my career, but through different opportunities and life experience, it’s led me to where I’m at today. That’s really what I’m hoping my students get out of this is seeing that there’s a lot of ways to use this degree. There are a lot of ways to achieve success depending on how they define success.”
Why it’s important to a marketing professional
“It’s important to be able to mentor and support a younger generation because I think we’re not always allowed those opportunities, especially right here where we’re from,” Lynn Cuny, deputy director of Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, said. “A lot of us seek that support in our field elsewhere. And so to be able to do it here in Rapid City, where we’re from, where our local colleges are, is really, really important for them to feel like they’re in the right field and they’re going on the right career path. To hear other people speak to it, living right here in Rapid City really helps want to keep them here, which is important for our economy as well.”
What will happen later
Even with this being the first year of this work shop, there are plans to continue the partnership between OLC and Jackalope, an ad agency, and learn from this year’s event and hold it again next year.