Students Advance to America250PA Finals

On Saturday, October 26, Community College of Philadelphia students Jabril Gregory and Jasmine Rozario were selected to move forward to the next round of The Pennsylvania Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial (American250PA) Direct Effect Innovation Challenge.

This three-round competition began throughout the state on October 1, and will culminate on November 19, at the Wilkes-Barre Connect conference. After designing and pitching a marketing campaign that integrates technology and direct mail advertising, the winning team will walk away as the creators of America250PA’s direct mail marketing campaign roll-out.

Gregory is a Business – General major with an interest in marketing and Rozario is an International Studies major with an interest in international business. For the two of them, the road to Wilkes-Barre began as a College-wide initiative, where student groups came together for a design-thinking seminar, collective brainstorming session and team-based campaign creation. Community leaders Allie Bassman, head of talent development at Saxbys Coffee, Greg DeShields, executive director at PHL Diversity, Suzanne Geyer, associate executive director at the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association and Dave Sawyer, account executive at Entercom, served as mentors for students at the event.

After being selected to move on from the College’s campus-wide competition, Gregory and Rozario pitched their campaign at Jefferson University on October 26.  Now developing and further refining their idea, with the goal of executing the campaigns and tracking its results, Gregory and Rozario will compete live on stage at the final round of the DEIC and pitch their ad campaign to Governor Tom Wolf, PA Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera, and the U.S. Postal Service.

After November 19, the winning team will partner with industry leaders to see their plan to fruition. The winning team will compete at the National Postal Forum 2020 in Orlando, Florida. The National Postal Forum is the largest printing and mail industry trade show in the country, and hosts over 4,000 industry leaders and professionals annually. 

The DEIC is a statewide series of competitions designed by the U.S. Postal Service to “provide an experiential learning opportunity for students and instructors.”

America250PA was created in 2018 by Governor Wolf and The Pennsylvania General Assembly. The commission will “plan, encourage, develop and coordinate the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.” America250PA’s goal is to use this nation-wide semiquincentennial celebration to highlight “Pennsylvania’s central role in America’s past, present, and future.”