So after talking with a fellow classmate about how our perceptions of public relations have changed and about what his plans are for after college it made me think I like his idea about sharing them with the world in a sense of advice. Take it or leave it. Advice and opinions should always be taken with a grain of salt.
Three years ago when I first entered college and chose my major I was so excited about public relations because the academic advisors made it sound like so much fun. I’m a people person. They said this would be great since I love organizing, planning and dealing with people. Well who would have thought three years later I would be changing my focus all together. Is it public relations’ fault or mine? There is no fault in this situation. People change over time and teachers change perceptions. Throughout my experience teachers in my degree never could understand why I was in journalism since I am letter dyslexic and spelling is not my strong point. I’m what journalist would say is an oxymoron. I can’t spell but I’m crazy good at math. And how did I end up in journalism?
At 18-years-old I thought I loved it. Funny how the advice I was given about boys can be held true about picking a major. At 18 you don’t know what you love. Well I loved writing and people. But just because I loved it didn’t mean I was very good at it in the world of PR. If everyone was meant to do PR then what would be the purpose of getting a degree in it? There would be no purpose. Sadly for me I found out three years late and one semester short of graduation. No matter how hard I tried PR and I grew a part.
I still love to write. I hope one day I can write and speak to young adults and share my story so that it may help them. My personal life story and academic story is one for the books for sure. But I can’t say that having chosen something else three years ago would have been best for me. How else would I have learned what I am meant to do? I wouldn’t have. I now know what I should be doing.
I want to go into higher education and student affairs administration. I realized that through all the hard times in school, I could always lean on my campus involvement to lift my spirits. At UNT we have amazing faculty in student affairs administration that were always there to be a friend or a parent when I needed one. I learned that I wanted to do that for other students like myself in the future. So what does this have to do with PR? Everything.
Yes, PR is about press releases, media lists, communication plans and so much more. But it is about human activity and word-of-mouth. I see PR as a form of interacting with people. That was what I was looking for since the very beginning. Maybe I was just looking in the wrong place for my people connection. The way I see it is that PR has prepared me for knowing how to communicate with people and spread a positive image to the future students that I will interact with. I am very thankful for my time, the good and the bad. Without any of it I wouldn’t know where to go from here.
I hope anyone reading this will feel lifted in the thought that everything happens for a reason. And my big piece of PR advice: PR is nothing like it is portrayed on Sex and the City.
Happy summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment