Looking Back, Moving Forward
This semester, was the last semester of college for me. It is a tremendous relief to have it almost behind me, but it’s also bittersweet. I have come a long way and have worked extremely hard to succeed in my last two semesters at GVSU. The path to my degree has been rocky, a lot of stops and starts, taking time off, and not taking things seriously at all. One thing I can say is that coming back to school after a 4 year hiatus has been eye-opening, I came back with a completely different attitude. Never in my life I have been so worried about homework, what’s due, whats going to be on exams etc. For a long time, that’s just not how I operated. I never realized how important having a degree was to me, and what opportunities it would open up. When I made the decision to come back, I told myself I was going to succeed, focus and get done with my last 6 classes. And that is what I did, I didn’t mess around, I got good grades and proved to myself that I could actually do it. It was hard for me to come back at 29 years old and have to take freshman and sophomore level classes, some of my group mates and classmates couldn’t even drink legally! But, I have learned a lot, I have succeeded. This was my mindset when I came back, I came with a get-it-done attitude, and I’m doing just that.
I have mentioned this before, but I think it is worth mentioning again: if you look at my transcripts I have this course CAP 220 Fundamentals of Public Relations, listed 3 times in the ‘courses not used’ section. I’m not sure if it speaks to my lackadaisical ways previously, or the level of difficulty of this class, but probably to both.
This course was not easy, I struggled with a lot of it, I had to go to class, I had to keep up with deadlines and churn out information on a client, that didn’t really know much about themselves when it came down to it. It was uncharted territory for me. The last couple times that I have taken this class, I never went to class, didn’t listen, and turned in junk. I wanted to do the right thing this time. I’m proud of the work I have done in this class, and I have learned a lot. The course load in this class was a lot, but if you kept up with deadlines and actually did what you were supposed to do it was manageable. This definitely helped me hone my skills on multi-tasking, which I believe is an important skill in any aspect of life. I also feel more confident overall in my abilities. I have practiced professional writing (within my campaign book and in blogging), I have learned A LOT about social media and how to wrangle that beast, I have learned about client relations and client research, and working with a real client. I have learned about design, how to put together a finished product, how to work in Excel, how to keep up with editing/proofreading, and to how to work in a group. I have learned that your social media presence is extremely important, and that you can really use social media to your advantage. Those are all things I will use in my professional life. This class smacked you in the face with real world situations and techniques, and showed me I need to get ready, this is what I will be doing out in there in the unknown.
It was one of the most challenging and rewarding classes I have ever taken, I am thankful I had the Professor I had, and that I came into this class ready to learn and do well. I know I will take this class with me wherever I go, especially while interning this summer, and will think back to this class and what it has taught me. Which was not just about PR, but about myself too. Seeing what good things can come from working hard, and showing up has really shown me what I want out of life, and that I will have to work hard to get there, it won’t just be handed to me.