“Studio 5 offers seniors the chance to have an agency experience … They work with real-world clients and receive hands-on training, with a mentor in the background,” says Assistant Professor of Communications Kat Lombard-Cook, who serves as faculty supervisor for Studio 5 (COMM 390).
Essentially a student-run communications agency, Studio 5 constitutes the senior Capstone project for communications and public relations/marketing communications majors at Simmons. The students work as teams across three departments: Account Management, Creative, or Project Management. Their placement is loosely based on their interests and personality types, as indicated by the results of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) self-assessment test.
Associate Professor Briana Martino, who serves as Chair of the Department of Communications, led the course from 2017 until 2021. According to Martino, Studio 5 derived its name from its original location on the fifth floor of the old Lefavour Hall. (The CommLab space is currently located in the Main College Building.)
“One of the things that I think is great about Studio 5 — and is very ‘Simmons’ — is that it is largely student-led,” Lombard-Cook says, who also serves on the Student-Driven Media Board.
Experiential Learning at Simmons
In a spring 2023 article in the student-run CommTracks magazine, Sidney Pilot ’23 crystallized Studio 5’s unique learning model with an apt title: “Experiential Learning: The Future of Communications.” As Pilot elaborates, Studio 5 produces “cutting-edge” services for clients across the nation, enabling students to work collaboratively and “to apply classroom knowledge to real-life situations.”
Lombard-Cook explains that “experiential-based learning is really key … There is a shift in the brain [when enacting applied learning]. When you reach an understanding of something and then you have to create it for a client, it then becomes real … Diverging from the traditional classroom environment and engaging with professionals this way enhances our understanding to new levels; it really makes concepts and theories more concrete.”
In Martino’s view, the value of Studio 5 lies in its collaborative and integrative design. “Studio 5 is a true laboratory of collaboration between all elements of communications, including journalism, design, integrated media, and public relations,” she says.
Accordingly, students take on different roles for multiple clients, including project manager, client liaison, or design/creative team.
“This framework helps students discover their strengths as well as their passions. Moreover, this unique experience sets Simmons apart from the [few] other student-run agencies elsewhere, which may focus, for example, on advertising,” Martino says.
“In most classrooms, you are doing your own project in a silo. But here the students realize how much each individual’s role is crucial to the totality of the project,” Lombard-Cook explains. “It is so meaningful to have that ownership over your part of the project and realize how your contribution impacts other people as you work together toward a common goal.”
Audrey “Mack” MacKenzie ’21, who took Studio 5 in Fall 2020, appreciated learning and applying diverse skills. “Performing different roles within our groups ensured that everyone developed a different skill set for each project … I did not know that I was interested in branding until Studio 5, so it was an important learning curve for me. Having that hands-on work experience was formative.”
While students have a unique opportunity to create work for real clients, guidance and mentorship are always available from their faculty advisor and other team members. As Sophie Bredensteiner ’23 recalls, “Studio 5 was by far the hardest class I took at Simmons. You are working for real clients, so the stakes are much higher than with traditional course assignments. However, you also have a network of support.”
In her supervisory capacity, Lombard-Cook guides students through the initial call for proposals, offers design-related critiques, and provides technical support. Ultimately, she desires the Studio 5 students to run meetings on their own, mirroring a professional (as opposed to academic) environment. At the end of the semester, she says, “I have the pleasure of watching the students present their work to their clients … The clients are so appreciative of Simmons students’ accomplishments, and it is heartwarming to witness this.”
Lombard-Cook’s eclectic artistic and scholarly background, which encompasses the visual arts, design, comics, and semiotics (sign theory), lends an important interpretive dimension to Studio 5’s structure and aims. “The core question that interests me, both in my scholarly research and creative work, is how we make meaning.” She continues: “When we discuss the issue of the audience in Studio 5, we ask ourselves: Who are we talking to? How do we think about the world? And how do we place ourselves in someone else’s world? It’s a practice of very deep empathy … you are appealing to people in a meaningful way.”
Moreover, Lombard-Cook’s unique educational background informs her pedagogy. She received an MFA from the Glasgow School of Art and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. She found the communities abroad very supportive and less competitive than those she had encountered in the United States. “In Scotland I came to understand the value of things not working. For instance, when something you try fails and you actually learn from the failure.” Lombard-Cook imported this “safe failing” method to Simmons, as it encourages students to take more chances than they would in a typical classroom setting.
From Classroom to Client
In this semester-long experiential course, seniors choose their clients. During the pre-pandemic era, Studio 5 students worked closely with Boston-based hospitals and nonprofit organizations, including the Boston Children’s Hospital’s Center for Young Women’s Health, First Teacher, Back on My Feet, and Strong Women Strong Girls. Studio 5 has also supported internal clients, namely the Simmons Institute for Inclusive Leadership, as well as the local luminary and award-winning chef Saba Wahid Duffy.
When many companies and organizations transitioned to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, Studio 5’s client base expanded well beyond Boston, thanks to the robust professional network of faculty member and former Studio 5 supervisor Kristina Markos. (A highly experienced industry professional, Markos led Studio 5 from 2019 through 2023, during which she brought skilled agency mentors to campus).
Under Lombard-Cook’s supervision, Studio 5 focuses on a nonprofit client base, both locally and nationally. “Having our students use their skills in communications, marketing, and public relations to create value-driven work for themselves and their communities … is very much in line with the mission of the University, and The Gwen Ifill School of Media, Humanities, and Social Sciences, in particular,” she explains.
In Fall 2024, students chose two local clients: Eastie Farm (East Boston) and University Communications (UComms) at Simmons. “In an area of Boston with only one grocery store for a population of over 40,000 people, Eastie Farm offers Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes for East Boston residents. Our team agreed that this was a great program that should be accessed by more people,” says Ash Cardinal ’25, a communications major concentrating on integrated media.
Alongside other members of the Creative Team, Cardinal recounts, “we conducted market research and produced four marketing fliers, with a Spanish translated version for each. We also created a social media guide and content calendar to help them plan out social media posts promoting the CSA.”
Eager to embrace a “for students, by students” perspective to UComms, Studio 5 participants “produced three short-form social media videos [covering spaces on campus, things to do around Boston, and the distinctive spirit of Simmons’ community] that were designed for prospective students,” says Creative Team member Kathryn Janssen ’25, who is majoring in communications (with an integrated media concentration) and minoring in radio and journalism. “We also created an ambassador program where students will have a work study opportunity to work with UComms as the faces of Simmons,” she adds.
Cardinal remarks that Studio 5 “was a very collaborative experience that taught me how to handle conflict professionally, communicate efficiently with clients and colleagues, and [work with] a team.” As Janssen reflects, “after dedicating so much time and becoming so close to our work it was extremely rewarding to see the clients’ reaction to what we produced.”
Beyond the Ivory Tower
The experiential learning that underpins Studio 5 gives students a professional advantage when they seek work beyond Simmons. According to Markos, “You cannot learn these [i.e., creative and agency-related] skills from a textbook, exam, or traditional class; you have to do it. The experience of Studio 5 adequately prepares Simmons students for the career paths that they desire to [pursue].”
Promptly following graduation, many Simmons/Studio 5 alumnae/i have been hired for impressive positions. From 2023 to 2025, Kate Farrell ’23 served as the Social Media and Digital Strategist for Historic New England. “This is a historical and preservation society, and I help[ed] promote our sites. What I learned from Studio 5 made me a top candidate for this position,” she described.
MacKenzie has since returned to Simmons as the Marketing Coordinator for the Office of University Communications. As a key figure among the marketing team, she produces innovative digital content that highlights the University’s brand, mission, and founding principles.
Linking passion to lifelong purpose, Studio 5 replicates the founding principle of Simmons University and enshrines the educational vision of John Simmons. “Historically, Simmons has been a place that balances professional training with academic inquiry,” Martino says.
“Studio 5 exemplifies how Simmons students ‘own’ the curriculum,” Lombard-Cook reflects. “This is really empowering, and it seems to be unique to Simmons. I have not come across any other place where the students have such a robust voice and are actively shaping the learning process.”