Spring Break
Campus Philly targets grads
Janhavi Purohit
Issue date: 10/24/08 Section: News
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The press conference took place at City Hall Oct. 23
The conference focused on the new leadership of the Campus Philly organization - a nonprofit dedicated to the economic growth of the City by encouraging college students to study, live and work in the city of Philadelphia, according to the Campus Philly web site.
According to a press release, the organization's new plan is to increase the number of college graduates in the Greater Philadelphia workforce through a three-part strategy: attracting more students to the colleges and universities in Greater Philadelphia, engaging the student population with the community and retaining students by directing them toward local internships and careers.
"For young people coming out of college, there might be well-worn paths to take, but you can look around and see how the City's now attracting students in droves," Matt Bergheiser, Philadelphia executive director of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, said.
Bergheiser added that the City can "grow" its own talent or "import" it from outside the City itself.
According to Herrmann, the importance of retaining students within the City is all the more important because students today are influencing the economic growth of the City more than they have in the last few decades.
Papadakis said Drexel is also invested in turning out students who will remain in Philadelphia and join the workforce.
"When we look at the future, we look to enroll more students," Papadakis said.
Papadakis said one of the most important aspects in encouraging students to remain in Philadelphia is addressing their perception of the City itself.
"In 1995, when I started, we did surveys to ask students what attracted them to Drexel or kept them away from the school," Papadakis said. "Back then, one of the most prominent things on the negative list was the city of Philadelphia that kept them away. But now, over the years, we've seen that the city of Philadelphia is one of the things that attracts students."
One way that Drexel has found of introducing students to the City is through the Civic Engagement activities in University 101 classes, as well as the Cultural Passports given to students, which allow them to visit spots in the City such as art museums and historic locations.
"We want to make sure that students acquaint themselves with Philadelphia and its treasures," Papadakis said. "We want to educate not just great students, but also great citizens."
Nutter agreed that the cultural passports are an effective way of familiarizing students with the City's culture.
"It's a great way to engage students and introduce them to the City," Nutter said.
Another important aspect of enrollment, according to Papadakis, is getting international students to Philadelphia as well. According to Papadakis, Boston and California are the two biggest competitors in this regard, but Philadelphia is fast catching up as an attractive city for college students.
According to Papadakis, programs such as the co-op program at Drexel, as well as encouraging students to explore the City are effective ways of retaining students.
"Almost two-thirds of our students, about 63 percent, stay in the City after graduating because of co-op and also because we teach them to love the City," Papadakis said.
Herrmann added that the work that Campus Philly and its participating schools do is for the benefit of the businesses in the City.
According to Weiner, businesses can take advantage of this by opening up more internships to college students.
"We need to work to continue improving opportunities for first-class students in a first-class workforce in a first-class City," Papadakis said.
Weiner added that factors such as a high-quality, affordable lifestyle, a lower cost of living than other similarly-sized cities and sixteen Fortune 500 companies within the City are why college graduates should choose Philadelphia.
"In recent years, Philadelphia has been consistently rated as one of the best cities for new college graduates," Weiner said.
"There are a great deal of opportunities for the best and brightest to excel in their careers."
Weiner added that there are opportunities for individuals to excel as well.
"Whatever your passion, you are sure to find a fit in Philadelphia," Weiner said.
"It's a success we're talking about," Papadakis said of Campus Philly.
Nutter added the support of his administration for the organization.
"On behalf of the City, I'm proud to be a part of this effort," Nutter said. "Campus Philly is very important to attaining our goals of enrollment and retainment."
Bergheiser added that Philadelphia is a fast growing "new college town" for students.
"It's gratifying to see that the road which takes college students to Philadelphia is more and more crowded each day," Bergheiser said.
According to Herrmann, the organization aims to have at least 2,500 students in college-level internships annually by June 2010, as well as to increase annual post-graduate retention by 10 percent.
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