Dreams, excitement, reality, fear..

Going home for Thanksgiving brought me so much excitement. I get to see my family and all of my friends from other schools. But it also brings the reality that everyone will be talking about what they are doing after graduation, their new jobs, and of course be asking me what I'll be doing. What will I be doing?

That is something I always thought I knew. My path was set. I would graduate in 4 years and go on to law school. It was my "dream" - or was it. The more I've thought about it, the more I have realized it was more of a path I had set out for myself, not my dream.

For years I have been focused on school, while spending my free time looking through Brides magazines. This obviously freaked out any guy I ever dated. But this past time wasn't about my dream wedding. It was about everyone elses. I loved reading about extraordinary weddings and events. And I always dreamed of planning them one day.




In fact, the reason I went into public relations as a major is because it listed one of its careers as "Special Events Specialist." That was my dream: to plan extravagent, wonderful events. But it is a dream that seems like is nearly impossible to make a reality.

Graduation scares the life out of me. I have no idea where I will live, what I will be doing, or how well I will be able to do it. I have researched several event planning studios in the Oklahoma area to contact about possible jobs. The most prominent one I would like to work with is Dolly Levi's Event Design Studio. It seems like the exact type of organization I would love to work with. I've Also looked at Event Planning by Leilani, Blueberry Hill Events, and several others. I have finally realized my dream job and I plan to do all that I can to snag it.

I think my experience in Public Relations has truly helped me prepare for this field. It has prepared me with knowledge of design, publicity, and organization of events. It has taught me to look through all angles and consider all audiences, as well as to prepare for possible crisis situations. As scared as I am, I look forward to my future with hope.

PR to LAW

The future is unknown, and to be honest, it scares the hell out of me. Some people know what they want to do when they are children. I was the kid who wanted to be a different profession every time I was asked (to be honest, it was usually an astronaut, a spy, or Troy Aikman). Regardless, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I started here at OU. I started out in business and moved to public relations. The reason is that I decided to go to law school. So why would I choose public relations?

I feel I must be honest with this class so I will tell you that I chose this major because I thought it was going to be easy. After participating in the public relations research class, I found at that this is not an easy major. There are, however, many skills a public relations major is taught that could be beneficial in the legal profession.

One of the most important skills I used in my PR major were my writing skills. This class, along with almost every other PR class, calls for a ton of papers. I cannot count how many press releases, reports, and fact sheets I have created in my time in good old Gaylord. So basically, I wrote a lot. Law school, as I have heard from those who attend, is mostly reading and writing. The entire grade of a semester at law school is usually taken from one test that requires you to write for two hours. So, the countless hours I spent in college writing papers has molded me into a better law school student before I even step in the doors.

Another attribute of this major that is beneficial to my legal future is research. Research is a word that we here in every class. It never leaves our side during campaigns and it is necessary to accomplish campaign goals and grades. It seems like libraries.ou.edu and myself are so familiar with each other that we could be best friends. Every PR class I have ever taken has emphasized research as one of the most important tasks for a PR practitioner. This skill is incredibly important for a lawyer and law students. Researching past cases, in the legal profession, is how lawyers win cases. Every lawyer I have talked to has told me to get ready for research in law school. Thanks to the PR major, I will be ready for more research.

While research and writing are invaluable to my future, the skill that I am proudest of that I learned here was public speaking. This major requires you to be an adequate public speaker. Although I started slow, I now feel confident in my public speaking skills.

So I will make the journey from one college to the next and then to the courtroom. Law school is going to tough. I’m glad I can take these skills with me.

From Part-Time Job To Dream Job

I am very pleased to write this because after 22 years of life and 4 and a half years of college I think I finally know what I want to be when I grow up! I never knew when I signed up to be a substitute teacher in Norman this school year that I would discover my real passion.

I always knew that I loved children and got along very well with them, but it had never occurred to me that I could teach for a living. So here I am with a semester of substitute teaching and about to graduate with a degree in Journalism, not education.

I have given my future a lot of thought throughout my college years, probably because I changed my major 3 times. After finally deciding on Journalism with an emphasis in public relations I thought I was set. Then when it came to be my last semester of school, I started really thinking about what I wanted to do after graduation.

It was actually after my first day of substitute teaching that I decided that I wanted to be a teacher. I had such a wonderful experience getting to know some of the children that I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to be there everyday, helping to shape their lives.

After much research and a meeting with the vice superintendent I have discovered that I can get my teaching certification in Journalism. This will allow me to teach middle school journalism classes, including yearbook, which was my favorite activity in high school.

I am so excited to have the opportunity to be in charge of recording a school’s year in a yearbook. I have always been really into scrapbooking, nerdy I know. But it will only help me in my future profession, with laying out yearbook pages and coming up with creative ideas.

I have found a way to use what I have learned in college with my own personal passion for creativity and children. I couldn’t be happier!