“With the support and guidance we received along the way, our final campaign felt clear, actionable, and impactful.”
June 2026– Drew University students Ava Rosa, C’27 and Aubrey Welch C’26, won bronze medals in the recent Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC) + Ad Council 2026 Strategic Excellence Student Awards.
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The national competition recognizes multicultural marketing and advertising excellence among university students.
Rosa and Welch developed their submission, “Show Them What’s Possible,” in Drew’s spring 2026 marketing capstone class to address the challenge of rebuilding confidence and support for adults seeking to complete their High School Equivalency (HSE) test.
For the competition, only one project from the class, MKTG 405: Marketing Theory and Practice, could be submitted to represent Drew.
Rosa, a marketing major and English minor, shared, “This campaign taught me so much about uncovering unique audience insights and the importance of storytelling in marketing. Aubrey and I were able to develop a strong strategy and submit work that we were truly proud of. With the support and guidance we received along the way, our final campaign felt clear, actionable, and impactful.”
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The students’ submission included digital and out-of-home creative executions, a media budget, channel strategy, and an original tagline built around a distinctive audience insight.
“Working with Ava on this campaign throughout our capstone semester was such a great experience,” said Welch, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s in marketing and a minor in psychology. “She has a really great approach to analytical marketing, while I really enjoy the creative side, so together we made a fantastic marketing team. A big thank you as well to Professor [Ann] Mills for bringing in class speakers who gave us valuable insight into how this campaign could be applied in a real-world setting.”
Mills, assistant professor of practice in business, added, “The competition challenged the students in so many ways, but its real value was that it was tethered to a real-world marketing challenge. Both Ava and Aubrey pulled together the marketing tactics, strategies, and theories they learned over several years at Drew and wove them into their final project.”
This summer, Rosa is working as secretary and board member of the Tia Maria Foundation and will return to Drew in the fall to complete her senior year. Welch is working at Springfield College in Massachusetts as a conferences and special events coordinator while continuing her search for a marketing role.
Learn more about the Drew business program.
