EDGE is the campus Entrepreneurial Center and is not just for business majors – open to all students of all majors and has students from 30+ different majors every year and a great way to build skills and expand your resume. EDGE provides creative services to local businesses and nonprofits, including website design, graphic design, event planning, and marketing services.
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. Enactus website.
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.
