A quick look into how Miami Students partnered with Enjoy Oxford to strengthen community connection and visitor engagement
A quick look into how Miami Students partnered with Enjoy Oxford to strengthen community connection and visitor engagement
In Miami University’s senior capstone, students don’t just learn about arts management; they practice it in real life. This semester, our class partnered with Enjoy Oxford, Oxford’s tourism bureau, to explore how student involvement can strengthen the connection between visitors, residents, and Miami’s campus community.
What made this experience different wasn't a single “final product”; it was the process: learning how to listen first, collaborate often, and build work that could realistically live on beyond one semester.
“You guys keep us young, getting fresh ideas and perspective on how to connect with visitors and community,” said Kim Daggy, Enjoy Oxford’s executive director. “Students see it differently because you come from different areas.” That outside perspective became one of the most valuable contributions our class could offer, bringing fresh eyes to an organization that already knows Oxford deeply, but doesn't always have the time or bandwidth to test new approaches to engagement.
From the beginning, the partnership was shaped by conversation and feedback. We held listening sessions, asked questions, and learned quickly that meaningful community-based work doesn’t happen overnight. “Initial contact with Erin (Hoppe), and listening sessions, it took so many people to see that to be organic,” said Marina Young, Enjoy Oxford’s communications and marketing manager. “Students take it to heart to try to solve our pain points. Just seeing all the developments is so neat.” That mindset shift, moving from “fixing” to building alongside, became a key learning outcome of the job for the duration of the capstone.
The course structure also emphasized teamwork and iteration. Students worked in groups, brought ideas to the table, revised them based on feedback, and learned how to communicate professionally with a community partner. “Being able to sit down (with each group helps a lot, break down ideas, bounce off ideas,” Young shared. Those check-ins helped keep our work grounded, realistic, and aligned with what Enjoy Oxford actually needed.
By the end of our course, each group was able to create a finished product that assisted Enjoy Oxford in one of its goals. Some groups were able to create interactive products, such as a passport and a travel itinerary, in order to promote tourism and to help support small local businesses. Other groups created student organizations and an internship program that allows the organization to leverage the untapped resources at Miami University. One group was even able to finish an art history tour that the organization had been wanting to complete for some time. Each of these products came with a detailed plan as to how Enjoy Oxford can place them into action quickly and efficiently.
Our class collectively learned to collaborate not only with our client, but also among each other to achieve the best results for our capstone project, as well as Enjoy Oxford itself. The products we created will benefit them in a way that is sustainable in the years to come, which will inevitably benefit the community as well as the incoming students. Enjoy Oxford plans to implement our ideas and solutions in order to boost the engagement across the city and among a variety of audiences. Our class was so grateful to have had the opportunity to work alongside this business and is excited to see the future outcomes.
