Student groups learning through experience

Students who get involved in the EDGE Center are able to build a tremendous amount of professional experience, ranging from website development and graphic design to research, marketing, event planning, and many more areas. 

Since EDGE works directly with clients, both in the Quad Cities community and beyond, students also gain experience in client communication and project management. There are many opportunities for students to expand their skillset, as they can take on a variety of projects.

Students can leave with experience in a number of areas, including web design, graphic design, advertising, project management, client communication, front-end coding, back-end web development (such as database and server interactions, API integrations, and online registration systems), video editing, event planning and social media marketing.

Put simply, students who come through EDGE get cool jobs and have cool careers making a difference in the world when they graduate. For more information, visit the Augustana Web Guild's website.

Advertising Developers (ADs)

This group competes with about 150 colleges and universities in the NSAC (National Student Advertising Competition) each year.

The group develops a complete strategic communication plan for a real client (past clients have included Pizza Hut, Snapple, State Farm Insurance and Adobe) using research, strategy, and design.

The written proposal is submitted, scored, and then taken to a regional competition to present to the client. Students often use these plans in their portfolios to take into a job interview. Students from any major may participate as early as their first year and may participate all four years if desired.

Enactus

Enactus at Augustana is part of an international organization that focuses on social entrepreneurship. Its mission is to “Engage the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders to use innovation and business principles to improve the world.”

This group is working on “Cool QC,” an image/marketing campaign to grow the economic region. They both plan and execute this campaign. Writing, video, photography and project management are skills used in this group.

Her Campus

HerCampus is a group dedicated to empowering women and giving them a voice on campus. This group publishes a weekly online magazine. They also have events and run their social media. They are looking for writers, editors, social media managers and event planners. Membership is open to both women and men.

Web Guild

The Augustana Web Guild is a student organization that was started in 1997 to promote the use of the web. The group began to train students in website building as well as learning to operate their own web development business.

The guild is self-funded and is run primarily to help students build skills and a strong professional portfolio by allowing them to work with 225+ clients on an annual contracts. Through the Web Guild students can gain knowledge in client communication, web development, and project management.

Black Squirrel Productions

Students from many majors, all with interest in video and film, work on projects both large and small, including videos for not-for-profits, small business and some for EDGE itself. Students can build their skills in all elements of production, script writing, video editing and camera work. Editing stations and cameras are available for training and production. An annual film festival is held to showcase the group’s projects.

Photography Club

Photography Cub’s purpose is to help students with an interest in photography to learn more about how to take good photos including the elements and principles of design and to give them opportunities to have hands-on experiences to put their new knowledge to the test.

Entrepreneurship

Opportunities include an Experiential Minor in Entrepreneurship, business plan creation, a fund to help top business ideas to get started, and a business plan competition (with cash prizes). The Experiential Minor includes some coursework along with experiences in EDGE.

EDGE Design

The graphic designers work on building their skills and professional portfolios. They work on many projects for outside organizations, ranging from logos to websites. They also do much work for the ADs team. 

Event Team

There are often multiple event teams working out of the EDGE Center, with one team to help entry-level planners learn their skills and an advanced team that runs an international conference. This unique experience goes well beyond a resume listing. The team requires a wide array of skills in event planning, web development, scheduling, and logistics.