Students in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) participated in the Kids in Distress 10th Annual Duck Fest, a fundraiser that sends 30,000 ducks down the New River in Fort Lauderdale in an event that’s part race and part festival. These ducks are sold or “adopted” for $5 each, with the winner of the race netting a $10,000 grand prize. As part of a semester-long project, the students in COMM 4300 Social Media Theory & Practice were tasked with utilizing social media theories and skills to raise money for Kids in Distress (KID). The local non-profit charity partner is a Fort Lauderdale-based organization that works to prevent child abuse and treat abused and neglected children.
As a group, the students in class raised nearly $2,500 through social media channels by selling ducks for the event, which placed them as the second-highest independent fundraising team for KID this year. As a reward, three of our class’ savviest social media mavens and fundraisers – Tiara Baldoni, Erin Herbert, and Natalia Hernandez – were invited by KID executive leadership to prepare and deploy social media plans for KID’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram channels during the event. The class is taught by Stephen Andon, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Writing and Communication.