Design Question

Small, local shelters don’t have enough time,  volunteers, or employees to be able to form a community through the use of social media.
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Solution

We partnered with local shelter, CritterHouse KC, to run a month-long social media campaign, creating templates so foster families can easily generate posts and consistently upload to social media. We finished strong with a foster dog awareness event to educate the Sion community of the problem at hand. 

Gallery

Meet The team

Daniela Castro-Carrera
Hi! I’m Daniela Castro-Carrera, currently a senior at Notre Dame de Sion. For my team project, PAWSitive Impacts KC, I am the media manager and have designed all social media posts and flyers. I enjoy digital design and love creating an online format to draw people's attention that will increase social productivity/interaction. Many nonprofit organizations have older generation leaders that struggle in getting social media outreach. When not knowing how to use it it can quickly get frustrating and confusing when there are multiple media platforms to use. Being aware of this I really wanted to alleviate that stress for an organization hopefully making a big or small change in their platform and numbers.

I have felt strongly connected to animal rescue and giving pets the second chance they deserve since I was a child. When learning about CritterHouse KC’s mission I knew we had a cause in hand that we could help make a difference in. Hearing their love and passion for helping these animals made it an easy decision to partner with them. Previously I myself was not very educated on the foster system for animals and so attending events where I got to meet and interview foster parents has sparked a new passion that I want to continue and evolve in college. 
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Thanks to this course and project I’ve created new and stronger communication, presentation, and flexibility skills. I’ve learned to think in a different perspective in order to help me approach challenges with multiple points of view. Also being able to work in a group setting helped me develop team skills that will not only help me in a professional setting but in everyday life. I’m currently planning to major in business, and this experience has helped expose me to the different types of professional settings I can look forward to when starting my career.

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Delaney Reidy
Hello, I am Delaney Reidy. I am PAWSitive Impacts KC’s Communications Coordinator. I have handled all the team's emails and any engagement with local partners. I am passionate about growing relationships and networking to expand my experiences and gain knowledge. As the Communications Coordinator, I am able to make connections and foster a better team collaboration. 
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While working with CritterHouse KC and growing my knowledge throughout this semester, I have realized just how important fostering and adoption of pets is. We decided to partner with CritterHouse KC because of how small scale it is. Small organizations lack attention, resources, and volunteers. CritterHouse KC was struggling with keeping up with their social media, with all the incoming dogs they were caring for. Social media nowadays is heavily relied on and gets lots of foot traffic especially from the younger generations. We were eager to help CritterHouse KC grow their social media presence and help them create consistent posts. Consistent posting will increase engagement for CritterHouse KC and overall up adoption rates. 
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This project and course have given me an inside look at career and project development and how to professionally communicate with others, work as a team, and network to find partners. Through this course, I have adapted an entrepreneurial mindset and am highly prepared and enthusiastic about entering a professional work environment.
Maddie Shipley
Hello! My name is Maddie Shipley, and I am the Team Leader of our group, PAWSitive Impacts KC. I have managed our workflow, researched our topic, and kept us organized this semester. We partnered with CritterHouse KC to educate the Sion students about foster opportunities and to help CritterHouse KC connect to their community through social media. We engaged with their community by attending events and interviewing foster parents, and we saw firsthand how a temporary home can completely change an animal's life. I have met so many selfless people who are passionate about helping animals. 
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Connecting personally with CritterHouse KC foster parents was the most meaningful part of this experience. Zelda, a dog we brought to our Foster Awareness Event, is a perfect example. She has been in a loving foster home through CritterHouse KC for two years. Her foster dad, Jason, has been committed to working with her to overcome the trauma she experienced in her past living situation. When they found her, she was being abused and forcefully bred in a man's basement. She was very skinny, and she eventually had to have her back leg amputated, but through Jason's dedication and volunteer work, she has become a completely different dog. “A missing leg doesn’t stop this girl; she's a tough one,” Jason said at the event. Fostering provides a loving home that can turn any animal's life around, and every animal deserves that opportunity.

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