Strengths v. Weaknesses

I feel like this question will haunt me as I start to interview for jobs in the coming years or when I sit across from my boss during a performance evaluation; and you know what I will probably dread having to answer it then as much as I do now. No one wants to admit their weaknesses, yet in order to improve oneself it becomes necessary just as it is necessary to know what your good at.
So here it goes this is what I think I need to learn/improve upon:

1)Writing: I feel like this is something that I can always improve upon. This is not to say that I think I'm a bad writer it just means that there is always room for improvement.

2)Media Relations: More specifically, pitches. I hate, HATE, speaking in public. It is hard for me to sell my ideas to a room full of people when all I really want to do is run away. Because I get so nervous speaking in front of people I tend to rush through my presentation, which causes me leave out key points and sometimes fail to get out some of the most important information.

3)Blogging: I won't lie, I do not blog very much. I should... but I don't. I don't read other peoples blogs very often either. I understand that bloggers have a growing voice and enable PR professionals to have a better understanding of how the public views a certain issue. This being said I still don't read blogs very often.

Now that I have revealed my faults as a PR student I will tell you what I think I'm good at.

1)Small 'c' communications: Face to face, day to day, I am a strong communicator (not in front of a large audience though).

2)Work ethic: I am throwing this one in because it is 10 pm on Tuesday night and I have been at the library working on homework for about 2 hours even though I have been very sick for the past 3 days...but I'm still getting all my work done.

3)Social Networking: Coming to college at the time I did really helped me with this. It was at the height of myspace and the beginning of facebook. Through those two social networking sites I gained understanding and knowledge of how to properly use social networking to my advantage.

Summertime when the living's easy...

Epic is the only word that comes to mind when I think of this past summer. I won't lie, it did not exactly start of that way but it could be because of my Maymester class. However as soon as that ended everything began to fall into place.

June was consumed of deep sea fishing, serious beach time, road trips with my favorite people and Bonnaroo. Bonnaroo, if you've been living under a rock, is a three day music festival in Manchester, TN. Tickets are $280 but I was able to go for free because of my involvement with Clean Vibes. Myself and 175 other volunteers stayed for 3 days after the festival and were able to clean up 700 acres of farm land that Bonnaroo uses as campsites. Clean Vibes is a non-profit organization that organizes recycling, compost and landfill waste at many different music festivals around the country in order to help spread environmental awareness and "keep the scene clean." I learned a lot through this experience but even better I was able to see the Beastie Boys, Snoop Dogg, Moe, Erica Badu and many more amazing musicians for free.
July was consumed of pretty much the exact same things except instead of Bonnaroo I worked at a music festival in Masontown, WV called ALL GOOD. This festival was, in my opinion, much better than Bonnaroo. I was able to see Lotus, Keller Williams, Base Nector, Moe (who always plays till the sun comes up), the New Mastersounds, Galactic and so many more. All in all it was a great way to spend the last summer of my college career!

Earthfest

If you have ever meet me then you probably know that I am a bit of a tree hugger. I can't help it though, I was raised this way. In the past few years "going green" has become more and more popular. Every where you go there is a "go green" t-shirt, bag or some other environmentally friendly product or message. The recent interest in going green is a huge step towards helping to save our planet, the more people who become involved the better. With that being said GCSU wanted to do there part to raise awareness on campus and in the Milledgevilee community. That is why GCSU celebrated their 3 annual Earthfest a few weeks ago and I, being the tree hugger that I am, decided to help them out with some of the PR for the event. Throughout the week there were information tables set up to promote green living, fundraisers, a power ride, and much more. The weeks festivities capped off with an all day celebration on front campus. During the day there numerous activities on front campus and at night there was live music featuring the Blacka nd White horror Picture Show, Los Jazz Banditos and The K-Macks. This video is a montage Earthfest, the music I used is by the K-Macks. I hope you like it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN8Epr3qe3Q

open mic night

For my PR class we were asked to join yet another social networking website and at first I was skeptical. I mean I blog, I tweet, I have a facebook, I feel pretty good about my social networking skills and my chosen networking platforms. However, I've got to give Ging her props. PR Open Mic is great for people in the PR world as well as for students (like myself) who will be needing to find internships and jobs soon. The website makes it easy to find information regarding both internships and jobs around the country. There are many blogs and links to articles that offer great tips on everything from writing for the social media to resume advice. if you haven't checked this site out yet, you should. propenmic.org

Thunder Rolls

This past semester my PR admin class had been planning and promoting the 11 annual GCSU athletic auction. On April 11, this past Saturday, we finally pulled it off and raised about $40,000 to go towards athletic scholarships. The planning process was long and a bit slow at times. That being said the weekend of the event the class came together to set up the event. Everyone did there part and I even brought along a little helper. In the past few months it has become clear that in order to put on a great, succesful event it is a heck-of-a lot easier and more fun to do it with people you enjoy and get along with.