Finishing Class

Yesterday I heard about a cool class that Miami Ad School offers their seniors. It's called Finishing Class and it takes place their last quarter in school.

Through a partnership with Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami Ad School sends students to work at the agency for 3 months. Sounds like a pretty standard internship deal, right? Well, as I was told yesterday by a recent student of this program, it's a bit different. They go into CP+B each day and work on their portfolios. Just their portfolios. All day, every day.

The students come in, are partnered up, and assigned 2 mentors from the agency. The mentors review the students current work, tell them to trash what doesn't work and suggest new products and strategies to concept. The students then do some pieces, review them with their mentors and polish from there. All day, every day. Pretty damn cool if you ask me.

It's like having a personal portfolio coach. Not to mention being immersed in an agency overflowing with great work. The students certainly can help during new business pitches or when someone needs an extra hand, but mostly, it's all about their book. The young woman I spoke to told me every piece currently in her portfolio is a result of this class (which made me wonder what her book looked like before this program). Ultimately, she had a strong book and that's what matters.