The Beginning of a New Chapter

The Beginning of a New Chapter

By Melia Wright

As the time for graduation is nearing, applying and interviewing for jobs constantly weighs on the mind of graduating seniors. It should at this point in time for many, as for myself, I will have to put off a full-time career for a few more years of being a student.

I always viewed the ACT as the most important test I would take in my life, until now. Four years after taking the ACT I am now preparing for the GRE, something I had never even heard about in high school, in hopes to make the transition into graduate school.

Since I was a young girl I have always envisioned working in the world of sports. As I have learned more about the field and what I need to do in order to succeed in the world of sports, I have found that it is in my best interest to put off the “real world” for another two years and earn my master’s in Sports Management.

While earning my master’s I hope to gain experience by working in the Athletic Department of the university I attend. Once my master’s degree is completed and I have gained a few years experience, I hope to enter my dream job as the Director of Event Management in sports. It is a job in which I can use not only my master’s degree in Sports Management, but also my bachelor’s degree in Public Relations.

Because of my love for sports and goal of one day working in this field, I immediately began searching for internships in this field. As a public relations student, an internship is almost a must in order to get a job in this competitive field. I received an internship at the Oklahoma City All Sports Association and after a semester of working with them, my love for sports was reinforced and I knew the area of sports is where I had to be.

Earning my master’s is the next step I need to take in order to reach my goal and the University of San Francisco is where I hope to take this next step. It not only has one of the top sports management programs in the nation but the time and effort you put into earning your master’s at USF pays off well and almost guarantee’s each of its graduates a job in the field of sports.

I have found throughout my four years in college that many people do not enjoy, appreciate, or even use the degree they earned in college. I am not one of those people, for I am very excited to use not only my bachelor’s degree but also my master’s. I thoroughly enjoy the world of public relations and all that it entails and I look forward to using my public relations skills specifically in the world of sports. It would be a dream of mine to earn my master’s and enter the “real world” in an area that I love so much.

Let the transition begin

Let the transition begin

By Matthew Wall

It’s always a tough day after graduation. I mean after high school I knew I was heading off to college to start something new and exciting. But it was that first rush of sheer panic that really scared me; what was I going to do with my life. The good news is I found my direction, just as life tends to lead us. It took a while out of the gate, but things always tend to run the right course.

It’s sometimes interesting to look back and trace my path to the University of Oklahoma. Because I never thought I would be studying public relations. Funny enough, I was a finance major when I arrived here. So now once again I stand at the brink of transition.

In December I will face that troubling fear again. The fear of what am I going to do with my life. The good news is once again I have a plan and a direction. Following graduation this December, I plan on hopefully earning a commission in the United States Marine Corps or the United States Navy. In the military I want to work in the field of public affairs.

This would expectantly send me to Washington D.C. where I, ultimately, want to be. I also, one day, want to run for public office. This has long been an aspiration for me to serve this great country. I feel with the skills I have learned while at OU I could have a successful career in public service. I believe the best quality I have attained through the study of journalism and public relations is remembering to always to the honest thing, even if it is the unpopular thing.

The City of Norman: How classy is a city so trashy?

The City of Norman has a constant problem with litter on the streets and highways. It turns what could be a beautiful city into one that resembles something closer to a trash dump.

In a campaign aimed at changing this problem, we have decided to focus on the slogan, “Keep Norman Classy, Don’t be Trashy.” We want to change the perception attached to the city. Instead of people viewing Norman as a dumpy college town, the perception should transcend to that of a classy, beautiful town.

The City of Norman has a litter crew consisting of only five men to pick up the litter all over Norman. In 2003 the crew picked up 6.73 tons of trash per crew member. In the first six months of 2004, the crew picked up 1.8 tons per person, then the crew was abolished. The litter crew was reinstated August 1, 2007. It now consists of one full time staff member and four contract labor personnel. The primary cleanup areas are the portal entries of Norman, major arterial roads, major section line roads, and locations where special events are planned.

We are working on producing a special event that is an extended take on something the university group OUr Earth does. They hand out trash bags on game days to keep the littering down. We thought this could be a good way to hit a big audience with several of our publics. We are going to hand out trash bags along with flyers for the city to raise awareness of the problem. This will be done at the OU v. Texas A&M game on Saturday, November 3, 2007.

Because one of the special event that day, this is a key opportunity to help the problem and raise awareness. We’ll see how classy we can make Norman, because the goal is just that, “Keep Norman Classy, Don’t be Trashy.”

http://www.ou.edu/student/ourearth/

http://www.ci.norman.ok.us/

http://soonersports.com/sports/m-footbl/sched/okla-m-footbl-sched.html

Abercrombie & Fitch…a pretentious workplace or the key to success?

As the time comes to graduate, everyone is buckling down to find jobs in the “real world.” As I search the Internet for different jobs in the PR field, looking at job descriptions and locations, I don’t find anything that interests me. Then one day I was looking at the upcoming on-campus interviews provided by the OU Career Services sight, and the Manager-In-Training position at Abercrombie and Fitch caught my eye.

Many of you are probably thinking, why would some who works so hard for four years to get a degree from a major university like OU get a job as a manager at a retail store in the mall? To be honest, I thought that myself when I worked at Hollister back in high school. What some of you may not know, in order to even be considered for a management position at Abercrombie and Fitch, a bachelor’s degree is required.

I’m sure that’s not reason enough to convince you of why it is a good idea to interview for this job. As a manager at Abercrombie and Fitch or one of their other stores, Abercrombie, Hollister Co. or Ruehl 925 this leaves room for many promotions and the chance to transfer to the city of your dreams.

Ever since I came back from school in England, I’ve wanted to move back. And it just so happens that Abercrombie has recently opened a store in London. What the perfect opportunity. But if I decided to change my mind before it was my time to transfer, then I could choose a big city in the United States that I’ve always wanted to live in.

As I mentioned before, I used to work at Hollister and it was honestly my favorite job as a kid. So if offered the opportunity to join the team again, especially holding a higher position, I’ll be excited to accept the offer and see where I end up.

The Cameleon Of Careers

The Cameleon Of Careers

Public relations is very broad and allows for a practitioner to have a wide range of choices when deciding which aspect of the field they wish to enter. Although I am not one-hundred percent sure where I will end up after I graduate, my dream job would lead me to California. There, I would use my public relations skills and knowledge to become an event promoter for different clubs and clients. This is a competitive part of the public relations industry and would take a lot of discipline and networking to be successful in, especially in California where people like me are a dime a dozen. It seems everyone moves there for life in the fast lane, and is never really as successful as the next person. If I eventually got tired of life on the west coast, which I’m sure I would, I would also like to try living in Chicago or New York for a little while. That’s another exciting thing about the range of work public relations professionals can do--they can work almost anywhere the choose. One of the most interesting parts of what I’m learning to do is networking. I really enjoy meeting new people and seeing where that might lead me. Meeting new people is inevitable when you do almost anything public relations related, and you never know who you might be talking with next. This keeps you on your toes and trains you to always be prepared and at your best. I guess what I’m saying is that although my dream job is not exactly set in stone, that’s okay, because I’ve chosen a profession that is as adaptable as I want to make it.

The New Cyber News

The New Cyber News

The New Cyber News

In the beginning, television was a mixture of all its predecessors, especially radio's, best parts combined in front of a camera. Similar to radio, television was the newest in a string of advancements in technology that gained a quick acceptance in American households.
The same way that television evolved from radio, the Internet has rapidly evolved from print media, combining the best of the publication that came before its invention.
The collision of these two media forces has already begun and shows no sign of slowing down. As the two are becoming one, the natural gap between yesterday and tomorrow is closing and it is up to Internet and television professionals to carefully take the next step.
Although television is still the dominate force in American news consumption there has been a noticeable increase of people looking online for news - 29% of Americans regularly get their news online. While the Internet audience is increasing, the dominate television audience is decreasing. 15% of the Internet news audience use other sources of media for news. In the early 1990s, more than 75% of Americans chose television as their news source, while today that number is 59% of Americans.
As more Americans stray from the traditional forms of news media, there has been an upward trend to news access on the Internet. This steady trend can be attributed to the hectic work schedules of Americans and the easy access of the Internet that can be squeezed into a day whenever there is a free minute instead of at a designated time in the day.
America has become a "round-the-clock" news-consuming country. Although there are no distinct categories of round-the-clock news consumption, college students and frequent Internet users lead the pack in daytime consumption.
Given these trends in news consumption of the American public and the fact that these trends show no signs of slowing down, it has become routine for newscasts to have websites reflecting their daily headlines. These websites usually offer updates on breaking news throughout the day.
With these trends happening on such a large scale, there is a lot going against any television newscast, especially a television newscast run by school-stressed, time-crunched students. The environment of television news calls for innovative, interactive ideas. The collision of the two current superpowers of media is occurring and in order to survive in the long run, TV must conform. To have a larger impact, "OU Nightly" has to use some form of streaming media to reach the student population at OU and the rest of the world.

Global warming hits home.

-Joshua M. Jones


With the outbreak of rampant wildfires in southern California and Al Gore being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize it seems as if the dangers of global warming are finally hitting home, too bad it is literally…

A recent study came out that said in the past three years 24% of the North-pole’s ice caps have melted, far faster than was previously believed.

Never in our history has such a large problem been eclipsed by so many smaller issues. And the problem is that it is almost impossible to gain universal momentum on such a ”macro-issue.” You see, for the average person it is difficult to feel the effects of global warming or to even consider them believable, and here in lies our paradox: We won’t understand this crisis until it is too late.

So what can we do…? Act.

The new recycling initiative here in Norman is just that, a chance to act. A small opportunity to get off the couch and make an impact. No matter how small or trivial it might be. Because to save our planet, and it is nothing less, we have to engage every citizen in a small way. Once everyone is doing something we will have the headway for the big pushes and sacrifices. It doesn’t help that the American people haven’t been called to task for really anything in the past 25 years, but I don’t believe we have forgotten what it is to sacrifice for the greater good. The beauty of such a small initiative is that it is exactly what we should be doing to get everyone on same page about something as big as global warming.

So, on March 1st, 2007 when you receive your recycling bins, don’t throw them in the corner only to be forgotten, look at them and spend some time thinking about the big difference such a small action can make.

P.S. A note on the dangers of traditional waste management.