Hundreds of Howard students packed The Yard to engage in the numerous activities and networking opportunities offered by the University’s annual Corporate and Community (CorpComm) Day.
The event which took place on Aug. 22 featured more than 30 tents containing corporate and community partners, a table of snacks like popcorn and cotton candy provided by HU Dining Services, a WHUR 96.3 music tent run by DJ Weezy, and more.
Returning participants to the event may have noticed an increased focus on festivity as a result of noticeable changes compared to previous years.
Despite the seeming increase in scale and scope of the event, the 2024 CorpComm event had about 20 fewer participating organizations compared to 2023. This shrinkage seemed to be a deliberate choice by the University.
“Because we’ve done more premier sponsors, we have less actual tents,” Allison Bryant, vice president of corporate relations at Howard University said. “We have bigger tents for larger spots.”
Bryant also pointed out that these premier sponsors of the event, such as Target, Procter and Gamble, and NextEra Energy, “have done bigger activations for the students”.
“This year we have a few more things happening than our traditional Corporate and Community Day,” she said. “So, it feels like a little bit more of a collaborative event.”
CorpComm’s focus on student engagement highlights a key element of the event. Students are lured to the event through games, goodie bags, and snacks in the hopes they stay to engage in informal networking.
Students were shaking hands and exchanging business cards in between standing in line for a bag of Procter and Gamble products or playing rounds of soccer and mini golf.
“Activation is really them bringing sort of an example of how they do their work…They’re trying to think about the most immersive and interactive ways to engage students,” Bryant said.
The NextEra tent offered this immersive experience, providing a photo booth where students could take pictures after speaking to a representative.
Target representatives also handed out Black-owned products to students and allowed them the chance to try on virtual reality headsets.
Bryant emphasized a focus on the quality of student engagement over the quantity of tents and participating organizations.
Even with the decrease in the number of tents, Howard students were still able to engage with the companies that were present.
Nnabueze Opara, a freshman finance major from New Jersey, expressed high approval for the event and said it has further affirmed his choice to attend Howard University.
“I do feel really good about the opportunities that I’m seeing here,” he said while standing in front of the Accenture Strategy & Consulting tent. “This is actually really important to me because I was in between two universities or three actually before I decided on Howard. And one of the reasons was because Howard has more opportunities.”
The event to Opara was an example of what Howard has to offer.
“Seeing as many tents as there are…everybody just connecting, it reassures me of my decision,” he said.
Destiny Edwards, a sophomore marketing major from Charlottesville, Virginia who worked as a volunteer for CorpComm, reflected on how she viewed the event differently this year.
“I think it was super overwhelming as a freshman because I didn’t really have a purpose for being here other than looking at the goods,” she said about last year’s event. “But this year… I can come in with the understanding that I may have a more targeted approach and look to form those connections that will really benefit me.”
She also emphasized the importance of taking full advantage of these events.
“There is so much opportunity when you choose to have it,” Edwards said.
HU BisonHub letters line the cross walk on the Yard. (Camila Armas/The Hilltop) 
Students use Oculus devices as part of the day’s activities. (Camila Armas/The Hilltop) 
Students gather around a company tent to learn about job opportunities. (Camila Armas/The Hilltop) 
Food and beverages are served to students on the Yard. (Camila Armas/The Hilltop)
While a number of students said they had positive experiences at the event, Bryant encouraged all kinds of feedback from both students and the participating corporate and community partners as they looked toward the future of CorpComm.
“What’s going to happen for us is after this is over, we’re going to look at the data, we’re going to see and get students’ feedback,” she said. “We’re going to get partner feedback to see which parts of it work really well, which parts we need to improve on.”
Copy edited by Camiryn Stepteau
