Hats Off to Print

By the time you read this Editor’s Note, I will officially have a pre-K graduate living in my house. (That still feels so surreal.) To celebrate the occasion, I purchased a book for my daughter called “Love the Fur You’re In”—a collection of wise and witty advice from the lovable characters of Sesame Street. It’s got some good stuff in there, including: “Get out in the rain and dance!”; “Don’t hide your light under a trash can lid”; and “Be someone’s Super Grover!”

As much as I’d like time to stand still, before I know it, my kids will be graduating high school, ready to begin new adventures, and the advice, while similar in message, may be worded a bit differently. The focus will turn to finding jobs, pursuing passions and persevering after failure.

Will that passion cross over into the print industry? I can’t say. What I do know is that we, as a group, need to ramp up our recruiting efforts. As our June cover points out, print has an age problem. With many experienced professionals nearing retirement, who will succeed them?

Print+Promo’s senior content editor, Hannah Abrams, attempted to answer this question in her article “The Youth Movement.” During her conversations with industry experts, such as John Berthelsen, vice president of development for the Print & Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF), and Greg Muzzillo, founder of Proforma, she learned that the print industry struggles with self-promotion, which is a bit ironic when you think about it, considering the sector is one of communication. This self-promotion, argued Berthelsen and Muzzillo, needs to happen at the college level.

PGSF is clearly making strides here, as this 60-year-old, not-for-profit organization provides more than 200 students each year with scholarships for technical school, two-year programs, four-year degrees and graduate degrees in the print and graphics industry. And, the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) recently announced its 2019 scholarship recipients: Out of 67 applicants, the association awarded 20 SGIA Educational Institution Member students with $2,000 each.

If you need more convincing on why your business needs to focus its attention on young talent, read Hannah's piece now. In the meantime, remove that trash can lid, and let your talents and enthusiasm for this wonderful industry shine through for others to see.