ISSUED: 26 October 2022
MEDIA CONTACT: Dana Costa
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University senior communication and new media major April Price has traded the classrooms on Shepherd’s campus for offices in New York City for her final semester in college. Price, of Martinsburg, is the first student from Shepherd to be accepted into the Verizon adfellows program, a nine-month paid fellowship during which she’s gaining experience at four different businesses or advertising agencies.
Price recently finished her first assignment, working with a global advertising agency called The Community, where she helped global brands and agencies home in on their values when it comes to diversity, equality, and inclusion (DE&I).
“Sometimes, when it comes to making commercials or campaigns, people get so focused on selling the product that they forget who they’re selling the product to,” Price said. “I was working with a client that did a lot of diversity and inclusion, but it seems like no one knew who they were and what they were doing.”
Price researched that company’s website, social media, and everything that was customer- or consumer-fronting and explained to officials there how the company looks from the outside.
“I was helping them build a strategy to better present themselves as a company that roots for DE&I in an authentic way without coming across as just trying to sell another product,” she said.
Fellows in the program spend one month each with four different companies or agencies. Price will also work at Disney Advertising, Accenture, and McCann Worldgroup. There is a two-week break in between each assignment that includes learning labs, research projects, and skill-building exercises where fellows work on case studies to sharpen their skills.
“I enjoy the real-world experience, but I’m nervous about having to switch companies all of a sudden because I have to learn my role all over again,” Price said. “I know I can do it, though.”
Price finds she has adapted surprisingly well to living in New York City.
“I thought I would be overwhelmed by how busy it is, but I kind of enjoy it,” she said. “I enjoy the convenience. I don’t like driving, so I like taking public transportation. It’s very beautiful here, and there’s so much to do. I just like the experience.”
Price, who served in the Marine Corps as a public relations specialist, will graduate in December. She was a member of Shepherd’s chapter of the National Millennial Community & Gen Z Council. She learned about the adfellows opportunity through her involvement in the club, which is advised by Dr. Matthew Kushin, professor of communication. Kushin wrote a letter of recommendation and offered Price coaching to help her prepare for the adfellows application and interviews.
“April has represented our university and department exceptionally in professional settings on National Millennial Community trips to Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Portland, where she interacted with executives from major brands and creative agencies,” Kushin said. “She jumped at leadership opportunities within the club and is poised, positive, and professional.”
The adfellows program is in its sixth year, and Verizon estimates about 97 percent of the participants have been offered full-time positions upon completion. Whether she’s offered a job with one of the companies she will work with as an adfellow or find other opportunities, Price is excited about her future in strategic communications.
“Ever since I was little, I knew I was going to be a storyteller,” she said. “I’m interested in why people make decisions as a group instead of as individuals. I like art and visual communications. I figured strategic communications is a healthy dose of both of those worlds—telling a story and understanding how to effectively tell that story.”
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