What UGA PRSSA Is Doing To Financially Support Our Members and Fellow Grady Clubs

Former executive board member Kat Blanchard poses with the Pathway Scholarship form

By Anna Gilstrap 

The fall 2020 semester is in full swing, and students are doing their best to navigate college during a pandemic. While COVID-19 is obviously a health crisis, it presents many other hardships as well; chief among them are financial burdens due to our country’s recent economic duress. 

Here at UGA PRSSA, we want to do our part to help alleviate these burdens on our members and fellow Grady clubs in any way we can, so we found a few ways to give back. 

First, UGA PRSSA donated $1,000—33% of our annual budget of $3,000—to other Grady clubs in need of support during this time. The money will be available to organizations on a need basis for conference fees, registration, general body promotional items and other necessary functions. 

“I hope that with this money, any of the other clubs within Grady who are struggling with membership or finding ways to keep their active members engaged are able to not worry about money and can instead focus on being the best club they can be during this time,” Lena Soenke, UGA PRSSA’s director of finance, said.  

Another way we are trying to ease any financial strain is adjusting our annual dues. PRSSA National is offering a 25% discount now through Oct. 15, making dues only $41.25 for the entire year. On top of their generosity, UGA PRSSA elected to not mark up the national amount. New and returning members only have to pay this discounted price in order to be a part of PRSSA. To register and pay for your membership, click here. 

Finally, we are thrilled to once again offer the Pathway Scholarship for the 2020-2021 school year. Started by former executive board member Kat Blanchard in 2018, the Pathway Scholarship covers the dues of six members who exhibit financial need. Applications for the scholarship are due Oct. 1 at noon and can be found here. 

UGA PRSSA knows times are tough, and we want to do our part to make them a little easier. Current financial struggles due to unprecedented circumstances should not inhibit students from participating in something for their future professional success. If you have any concerns of your own that we could help with, feel free to reach out to us @UGAPRSSA on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.