QBC COM 480 Feature

By Quest Dobbelaire

Bradley University’s COM 480 serves as the flagship capstone course for all public relations  majors and the final hurdle as seniors look toward graduation. The spring 2022 semester has proven to be yet another example of the innovation that Bradley University students are capable of, as a group of these capstone seniors are tackling the issues created by the national teacher shortage.

The group in question, under the pseudonym QBC PR Solutions, have worked to bring awareness to college students of the Illinois State Board of Education’s “temporary substitute licensing program. Under the new legislation, students who have 60 or more credits from a verified community college or university are qualified to apply for a year long, non-renewable teaching license.

The pinnacle of their campaign was inviting Beth Crider, the superintendent of the Peoria County Regional Office of Education to offer an on-campus temporary substitute licensing and training event on April 12th. Advertising for the event was done on campus flyers and yard signage, courtesy of local screen printing firm CDI.

Crider began the event by foreshadowing the need for substitutes in Peoria public schools. “Everything you’ve been told about the teacher shortage is true, but magnify that by a thousand and that is the reality we are facing.”

Crider went on to highlight the dos and don’ts of subbing for a teacher, while her associate Matt Brown fingerprinted interested individuals to begin the federal background checks.

To pair with their event, QBC PR Solutions has spent the the past several weeks building a website to be used online resource for college students to follow the necessary steps in registering with the state of Illinois to be substitute teachers. The website not only serves as a direct resource, but as an application tool for the next phase of the campaign.

Unlike most COM 480 campaigns, QBC doesn’t want their work to be stagnant, and according to Crider, her event at Bradley was far from just a one-time occurrence. “I’d like to make it out here at least once a year to give my lecture.” Crider said. “I think it’s an awesome way to pair much needed employment to the supplementary education received at Bradley.” 

This is looking to be a very real possibility in the future, as some of the attendees of the event were some members and officers for the Bradley Student Education Association (BSEA), a group on campus that caters to all education major needs. Many expressed interest in the potential of inviting Crider to an event hosted by them to replicate the training and application process exhibited by QBC’s event. As a promising sign of future collaboration, Crider was just invited to the BSEA meeting yesterday to talk about trauma informed teaching. 

The success of the campaign can be measured in several ways, but for Bradley University  COM 480 professor Dr. Rachelle Pavelko, she has her own take on it. “I want them to feel like they accomplished something impressive, and had fun along the way” Pavelko said. “(This class is) a great chance to see what works well, and learn from what doesn’t.”

Despite several boxes being checked throughout the campaign, it hasn’t been a cakewalk for QBC. Perseverance has proven to be the biggest takeaways for Bri Durham, QBC’s Media Relations Officer.  “(You have to) Stay the course even if you feel discouraged. You’ll make it through.”

Even though their event is in the rearview, QBC’s work is far from over. They are in the evaluation stage of their campaign, collecting data and and finalizing their portfolio for peer and panel judge review.