UIC Students' First Virtual Business Expo
Written by Prof. Jack Rose
Miramar – Students in Professor Jack Rose’s Business Expo class presented their First Virtual Business Expo on Thursday, September 17th through Zoom.us, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
In the past, the business expo was held in the school’s Dr. Moyano Auditorium at United International College, 3130 Miramar Parkway, Miramar, Florida. Due to the current COVID-19 situation, the students attended the Virtual National Small Business Expo held on August 4th and 5th. Professor Rose emphasized that one of the most important words in business is flexibility and while the students looked forward to this event that always had a large attendance allowing the students to interact with potential clients, the need to promote their products and services had to take on another venue. Thus, the First Virtual Business Expo was conceived.
Tuong Hoang plans to open Queen Beauty Nail Salon offering not only manicures and pedicures, but skin care services through various facial treatments, waxing and threading.
Hong Nguyen’s business is Dream English Center where people who want to improve their English skills in her native Vietnam, in Nghe An countryside. She plans on offering a quality-learning environment for young children, teenagers, and adults.
Alix Paez, a native of Venezuela, is passionate about the make-up industry and believes that makeup can be used as a therapeutic instrument, since it also increases and transforms the clients mood and self-esteem.
Tram Tran’s business enterprise is Beauty Hair Salon and believes that proper hair care and treatment contributes to an increase in self-confidence.
Binh Nguyen also looks forward to opening her own nail salon providing excellent nail care and other services in a relaxing environment.
Students submitted their written Sales Promotion Plan as their final term project.
For further information, please contact Professor Rose at jrose@unilatina.edu
UIC’s 2020 Commencement Ceremony Was Quiet a Memorable Academic Act Conducted in the Campus Parking Lot where the Applauses shifted to Celebratory Car Honking
Miramar, FL- United International College commemorated its annual commencement ceremony on Friday, June 26 at 6:00 p.m. in the parking lot of its campus in the Miramar Park of Commerce, 3130 Commerce Parkway, Miramar, FL 33025 with the support of the Miramar Police Department.
UIC celebrated the culmination of the academic journey of 22 students earning associate and bachelor degrees in Business, Communications and Tourism. These 22 fine students represent Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.
The ceremony began with a drive by parade from the graduating students, followed by a speech from UIC’s founding president, Lydia Bautista Möller, “The world needs you more than ever…Also, we are happy to celebrate our first graduating ceremony with our new name, United International College. Name that represents our community with the incredible cultures we welcome every day. Our growth wouldn’t be possible without the voice of each of you and we want you to know that this is your home and will be your alma mater…UIC stands with every minority, gender, race, religion, and recognizes the movement that has led us to become more inclusive and respectful of all lives. We all are equally important.”
Commencement student speaker and Summa Cum Laude, Laura Steudel, added “although we are immigrants, we are united. I want to thank you for supporting me throughout these years. This United family will support us always. I want to remind you that we are in a country where being unique is embraced. All our ideas have weight. Find something you love and pursue it.”
A caravan parade with the commencement students followed to award their diplomas. Faculty members and board of directors greeted students from a distance with farewell message signs. Right after Laura’s speech, the Miramar Police and Fire Department officers surprised the grads with a celebratory drive by parade from their police patrols and fire trucks. They held signs that read “Congratulations Class of 2020”.
During these difficult times of social distancing, UIC joins with the community to inspire and celebrate the efforts of UIC’s graduating students who culminated their degrees under the difficult circumstances faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ceremony was broadcasted live through social media for family and friends to join this solemn academic act.
Crafting a Public Relations Campaign Proposal
Miramar, FL- On April 6, 2020, seven UIC students started taking PUR 301: Introduction to Public Relations taught by Dr. Marcela Moyano. The course began only two weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine and was delivered online through UIC’s Online Campus.
The first weeks of the course students learned the fundamental concepts of Public Relations, which prepared them to develop a Public Relations Campaign Proposal for their startups or a client’s company.
Students carefully identified a Campaign Overarching Objective, the publics that were going to be targeted in this campaign and specific goals, strategies, tactics and key messages. They developed a campaign budget and calendar, and finalized their campaigns with an evaluation instrument to assess the success of their campaign.
On May 4th, Jessica Levy, founder and president of Levy, a public relations, events, and social media agency, virtually visited the class and shared with UIC students her experience as an expert in the field. She shared with them examples of initiatives executed with her clients that demonstrated the value of public relations. As a result of this talk with Jessica, students were able to understand the nature of the field and picture themselves as PR practitioners.
On May 25, students submitted the first part of the P.R. Campaign Proposal. They continued editing their work and adding to their proposal on a weekly basis. On June 15, they were ready to deliver their final presentations. Daniela Del Valle, prepared a campaign for her audio visual company, DVSA Corp, and invited her partner, Santiago Del Valle to listen to her final presentation and give her feedback.
Martha Rodriguez prepared a campaign for ATR Group, a real estate agency. After much thought and feedback from the professor and classmates, she successfully completed her campaign. On the day of her presentation, she shared with the class that ATR Group was already implementing some of the proposed tactics in her campaign.
“I am a graphic designer and now I study Communications & Media at United International College. This term I took the Public Relations class with Professor Marcela Moyano. I am so impressed because I had never imagined how much I could learn. For the final project we had to make a public relations campaign proposal for a company, I chose to do it for a team of real estate agents. It was incredible and hard work because I had to do a careful investigation of the team on its public, competitors, mission, vision, and then design the proposal with a main objective and three goals with excellent strategies, tactics and messages to reach them. I really enjoyed doing it. I was able to learn more than I ever imagined.”
Renata Diniz, developed a P.R. Campaign Proposal on her company Tasty Bites. As most of the students, she also did a wonderful job crafting her tactics and coming up with creative ideas to engage new customers.
All the course was delivered through UIC’s online classroom, The Big Blue Button, which facilitated and enhanced student interaction through break out rooms. Students truly embraced technology and excelled at it! This can be appreciated through their public relations campaign proposals.
Learn more about UIC Communications and Mass Media Programs