This article was previously published in print on Dec. 05, 2023.
As students wander the campus, they may notice a new animation filling the many television screens living in many quintessential buildings. From the Anderson Center to West Hall, the Career Development Center’s (CDC) newest advertisement has been drawing student attention.
‘17 Hamline Alum Quentin Turner is the mastermind behind the animation. Turner was hired as the CDC’s Operations Coordinator in March of this year, where he acts as the glue that holds the center together. He is the primary manager of the app Handshake and he handles the department’s finances and creates content and material for Hamline students.
“On top of our handouts that we do, one of the areas that I have been trying to amplify a lot more is our visual advertisements and context to grab the student’s attention and to encourage people to utilize the career services that we have here,” Turner said.
The latter is what gave Turner the chance to create the animation. Inspired by Manga and Anime, Turner aimed to create an animation that represented the student body here at Hamline and provided authentic scenarios that may lead students to visit the CDC.
“I wanted to create something that was pretty punctual but also stylish at the same time.” Turner said, “And would really be a creative way of getting people to notice and think about the Career Development Center.”
This animation was created in one week, created with a combination of Adobe Software, Canva and a smidge of AI assistance. The students featured in the animation are modeled after Hamline students Turner has encountered and interacted with on campus, two of whom include representations of the two CDC student workers, junior Hannah Flanagan and sophomore Melanie Leverich.
Creating these videos is not new to Turner, as he has been creating these sorts of projects since his time here at Hamline. During his few years as a student, Turner found himself involved in many things on campus, making him a well-rounded student and soon enough a well-rounded employee: one of the many things students and coworkers alike praise.
This animation is just one of the many ways that the CDC is making its office more known to students. Despite being such a valuable resource for students and alumni, very few Hamline students have utilized it due to its lack of visibility. Together, Turner and Flanagan have put their brains together to draw people in.
“[W]e can make the CDC better for students. Me and him have really brainstormed our Instagram together and how to make that more engaging for students,” Flanagan said. “We’ve also talked about ways to make the CDC more engaging as a whole, meaning we have talked about ways and brainstormed ways to get more student engagement.”
Flanagan has been working with the CDC since the beginning of this semester and is the manager of the CDC’s Instagram, where she has promoted the animation and other advertisements centered around this resource. She even goes as far as to repost these posts onto her own personal Instagram story to get more student traction.
“I remember I walked into the office one day, the day he was making the finishing final touches. And he was like, hey, come check this out. What do you think of this? And I stopped and watched it and I was like, wow, that is awesome,” Flanagan said. “I could tell that he was super, super proud of it. Which was super cool to see because I think that Quentin really lights up when he is able to do something positive for the students.”
For students interested in visiting the CDC, the center is located in Drew Science Center 113 and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Both Turner and Flanagan encourage students to drop by and visit, even if they do not have an appointment. The center is here to benefit and help students and provide them with the resources they need to achieve their career goals during and after college.
