Time to get back to this..

Tags

AJG, Arthur J. Gallagher, BCBSM, california, experience, graduation, grand valley state university, GVSU, internal anxiety, LA, mentor relationships, Work

I can count on one hand the amount of times I have been on a ferris wheel and, yet, I feel as though I have been on a continuous ride for the past six months. It is as if every time I try to get off the ride it just won’t stop, it just keeps spinning and spinning and spinning. The ride has been great and there really has only been a couple of jolts, but it would be nice to be able to watch the ferris wheel from the ground once in a while.

There has been so much going on in my life I can hardly keep track of my shoes let alone find time to sit and write. That’s probably a lie.. but I am going to use it as an excuse for now.

January began my final semester of college and the continuation of my job search. Both very stressful, but something amazing happened that made it all worth it. I began dating the man of my dreams (I have always wanted to say that cheesy line). No, but for real he is the most amazing guy and this couldn’t have happened at a more inconvenient time (considering my move to Cali and his to Northern Wisconsin). With that being said, I truly believe everything happens for a reason and I am willing to go with the flow.

February was also an exciting month. I spent the first few days of the month in San Francisco and Los Angeles interviewing for Arthur J. Gallagher and their wholesale division. It was quite the whirlwind couple of days, but well worth it. February also included the military ball. Now that was an experience. My experience with the military and those in it was pretty limited until I started dating Scott. The ball was a lot of fun, it was just extremely formal and it sorta freaked me out at first.

March was pretty uneventful. Mostly just full on internal anxiety about how my interviews went for AJG and lots of homework (okay that second part is a lie, but if my mom ever asks that is what I was doing).

April was an exciting month. I was offered an internship at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (networking and maintaining mentor relationships always pays off!). The day after I was offered the internship I was offered the job at AJG!!! Long story short I took the position in LA and still chose to do the internship during the summer. I start in LA in August, meanwhile I am continuing to learn at BCBSM and spending time with my friends and family here in Michigan. April was also graduation! I never thought that day would come, but it came and it came way quicker than I could have ever imagined. My aunts, brother, sister-in-law and parents came to Grand Rapids for graduation and after we all went to dinner with Scott and his family. I was a tiny bit nervous about the families meeting, but three courses and four hours later it was probably the best night I had had in a long time. Most college kids go out and get hammered the night of graduation, not Scott and I. We hung out and laughed all night with our families. Sounds lame, but I don’t care I loved it!

Since graduation I have been working at BCBSM and preparing for my move to Cali. It is bound to be an exciting journey and I cannot wait to get it started.

Introduction to gay and lesbian studies

Tags

bi, gay, Grand Valley, HRC, lesbian, No H8, queer, school, transgender, uneducated

Do you know the difference between gender identity and sexual preference.. or how they work together?.. ya me either.

This semester I just needed some extra credits, so I decided to take an elective with a friend of mine. Introduction to gay and lesbian studies. Why in the world am I taking this class you ask? Honestly, I do not really know. I have a few guesses which include wanting to be more educated, being interested, and a need to understand. I hate when people claim to be “against” something purely because they are uneducated.. I have the opportunity to educate myself on this subject and from there I can continue to educate others. Why wouldn’t I want to do that?

Some background… this is not an entirely new subject for me, my best friend and a few other really good friends are gay. I thought I understood. You are born a boy and like boys, you are born a girl and like girls, you like both sexes, or you are born one sex and want to be the opposite. Simple enough right?.. NO WAYYY

So, I walk into class and naturally sit next to my friend and look around. It is clear a lot of people are gay and some people I am unsure. No biggie. We start doing introductions and I am about the 10th person in and I am noticing a trend that is scaring the living shit out of me. Mind you.. I am never uncomfortable around gay people so I was unsure of where this feeling was coming from. So, it finally gets to me and I am freaking out inside.. this is sooo awkward what am I going to say! I put a smile on my face and said “Hi, my name is Allison. I am a senior ad/pr major and I have been straight for.. forever?” ahhh I did it. I followed the trend. I am the first non-gay. Will I be accepted? Will they throw their pencils at me? Will they look at me weird? .. apparently my face portrayed all of these emotions because everyone just started laughing at me in an approval way.. not a judgmental way. More people introduce themselves and I start hearing new terms like bisexual, queer, trans, and I don’t know what I am. In my head I am thinking.. what is queer? Isn’t that gay? What is trans? Doesn’t that mean you have had a sex change? And how do you not know? OMG I am sooo confused and it is only 30 minutes into the first class.

The discussion progresses to explanation of these terms. I was happy because I thought, “oh good maybe I will understand.” HAHA what a joke that was.. it just confused me even more. Everyone starts throwing out these terms like bi, trans, gay, lesbian, queer, omni sexual, pan sexual, cis male, cis female, and a few others I cannot even remember.  My friend just looked at me and said “don’t worry about it, I promise you will get it. This is just going to take time.” I take all sorts of ethics and theory classes all the time.. but for some reason this class is challenging me more than those ever did. I want to understand so bad, and I hate when I don’t understand things. This class is going to be quite the adventure.. and I am excited for it.

I will keep you all updated on my confusion and my progression to understanding the world of gender identity.. because as I am learning there is more than jus boys and girls in the world.

My last first day of undergrad

Tags

AJG, Arthur J. Gallagher, family, friends, Grand Valley, GVSU, Life, Los Angeles, Michigan, San Francisco, Starting Over

So, today is my last first day of undergrad. I am not sure how I feel about this. I used to think my uneasiness resulted from my fear of school ending (since it is all I have known for 18 years), but now I have come to realize it is not that at all. My uneasiness has everything to do with leaving my friends.

All of my friends are within a 10 mile radius of me and I can see them whenever I want. What is going to happen in 110 days when I graduate and I will no longer be with all of my friends?

I may not have begun thinking about this already, but the Tuesday before break (about 3 weeks ago) I got the most important call of my life .. well to date. I got an interview with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in San Francisco and Los Angeles. I interned with the company this summer and fell in love with it. I have been trying to wiggle my way into a full-time position for about 6 months now and finally got a break. They will be flying me out to San Francisco on Feb 1 then to L.A. on Feb 2 and back to Detroit Feb 3. It is going to be a whirlwind experience. I could not be more excited for it.

With that being said.. it makes me think about the possibility that I will be leaving Michigan.. leaving my friends.. leaving my family… leaving my life.

Everyone tells me not to worry and I will just start an amazing new life out there, but its hard for me not to think I am leaving my life behind here.. all the time I have put into certain relationships.. is that all going to go to waste?

The “Real World”

Tags

college students, fake life, grand valley state university, GVSU, internships, real world, school, time management, working, working adults

What is the real world?

According to the working adult between the ages of 26 and dead:

The real world is being done with school, working, paying bills, and living life on your own.

Who decided this and where can I find them? That person needs a swift kick in the behind. EVERY time a working adult says to me “wait until you are in the real world” or are you ready for the real world?” my blood boils and I want to scream at the top of my lungs.

I don’t know if these working adults remember life before the real world, but I am not living in some sort of fake Harry Potter world. I work 25 hours a week, I have 15 credits of class at GVSU, and I intern. Oh and on top of all that I maintain a 3.7 GPA, PRSSA, AND a social life. As for bills I admit my parents help me with school, but they by no means fully support me. I pay for my car, my apartment, my books, part of school, food, necessities, and my social life. Now if this is the so-called fake world, it is not very cool and I don’t recommend it. This fake world involves a lot of work with little amounts of money and even smaller amounts of sleep.

I think working adults believe that college students don’t really have any responsibilities, but that is incorrect. I also believe they think our lives are super easy. News flash.. school is not easy, ask any working adult that decided to go back to school. Now add to that work, internships, and social life.

I am not complaining about the fake world I am currently living in, I actually love it. I get to hang out with my friends all the time, I am not married, I am not tied down to a mortgage (house), I don’t have any pets, I can go to the bar whenever I want, etc. There are many benefits to my fake world that I love. I would just greatly appreciate it if  working adults would remember for just a second what it was like when they were in their 20s. Or at least understand that as college students, we work really hard on our current responsibilities. Right now my priorities are doing good in school, networking, finding a career path, enjoying my friends, and loving life. I am doing an amazing job at that and am working really hard to accomplish it.

One of the biggest things I admire about my mom and my mentor is that they both can relate to college students. They remember what it was like. Why can’t everyone else?

Disclaimer: I have been told that I am not the norm and I am the exception. Regardless, I am writing this post of behalf of all the college students who work their asses off and still have to deal with comments about the real world.

Smart Phones and Social Life

Tags

cell phone, social life, social media

So tonight I went to a local brewery with a few of my friends to celebrate break. About half way through the evening I suddenly realized we all were on our phones and using our phones to show each other various things from text messages to pictures on Facebook. One of the guys with us is about 30 years old so I said “Jason, what was it like socially to not have cell phone?” (since cell phones weren’t common place when he was a teen). This started quite the debate at the table. It just made me think.. whenever I want to see a friend I just call them, how did people get a hold of others without cell phones? How did they find people when they lost them at an amusement park or arena? That moment made me realize how different life is with smartphones and how much smartphones has affected culture.

I Need to Relax

Tags

beginning research, career, graduation, Grand Valley, GVSU, how to write a research paper, PR, pr management, pr program, professional document, PRSSA, public relations

It has officially been Christmas Break for three days now and, yet, I still cannot manage to turn my mind off and relax. I am constantly worrying about graduation (in April) and what I am going to do after. I keep applying for jobs and just hope that all of my hard work will pay off. I know people think I am crazy, but ideally I would like to have a job before I graduate. I don’t want to have to move home and depend on my parents until I find a job. I know they would love to have me home and would not bat an eye at helping me, but I don’t want to do that to them. My dad is retired, which means he is on a fixed income. Although, my mom is a surgical nurse at U of M I don’t want them to have to worry about me. They have helped and supported me more than most parents for the past 22 years. It is time for me to help them by helping myself.

On a smaller note of worries I am trying to devise a professional document to submit to my university’s School of Communications. There is a class within the Ad/PR program called CAP 115 (it is a beginning research methods class), during the course of the semester students learn the fundamentals of secondary and primary research. They also learn how to write a research paper (properly) and proper APA style. When I began the program I assumed it was a prerequisite class (assuming classes went in numerical order 100, 200, 300, etc.), so I took the class first. I admit it was not the most interesting or fun class I have ever taken, but I learned so much in that class that I would later find out would highly benefit me in other classes. Not to mention, I had a great professor who made me want to continue in the program despite the boring start. Within the Ad/PR program you take an introduction to PR class in which you learn to write your first plan book. Then later you take a PR Management and Cases class which involves working in a group to complete three plans and one individually and the last plan book class you take is campaign writing where you work with a team to create a campaign for an actual client. All three of these courses involve a lot of research and if the research is not done properly the rest of the plan will not be correct or effective. It is very frustrating to have to work in a group on these projects with another student(s) who has not taken the research basics class. My feeling is mutual among many peers and even numerous professors. We have all complained individually and the professors say they can never get anywhere with their recommendations.

I along with another professor decided that maybe if PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) drafted an appeal to the School of Communications, maybe we could make research basics a prerequisite class. Because PRSSA is identified as a professional organization we are going to use that to our advantage and present the school with a professional document with a lot of research and logic behind our appeal. It is our belief that students will inevitably learn more in their classes if professors do not have to spend extra time teaching students proper research techniques.

Anyways, that is just my frustration at the moment and what is occupying my mind other than finding a big girl job. Hopefully, when I make it back to the East side of the state later this week I will be able to just relax and play with my Newfies and not worry about a thing (haha that is a joke).

-AG

16 Weeks

Tags

alternative class lessons, climatology, college, grand rapids, life lessons, public relations

My senior year is already half-way over?! What happened to the time and where was I when it was passing?

This semester was a struggle for me, but I made it through and actually ended up on top. If anyone knows me, they know I complained ALL semester about this one climatology class [yes, that is the study of the climate: clouds, air pressure, hurricanes, hydrologic cycles, ocean currents etc] I had to take as my last gen-ed class. I have never struggled in a class like I did in this one, I just do not have a math and science brain, not to mention I am awful at multiple choice exams. After literally skating by all semester with an 78%, I knew the final exam was going to be do or die. If I failed or did awful on the final exam I was not going to have a pretty grade or even pass the class. So I studied like I have never studied before and went into the exam with a great attitude. By the grace of God I ended up getting a B+ on the exam and doing great in the class. I emailed my professor to thank him for his patience and willingness to help me and I also told him how much I actually learned in the class. He responded with:

I think your attitude changed over time too, from “Let’s get this class out of the way” to “This could actually be interesting”…

He was completely right, as soon as I put my attitude in check I started doing better. This was probably because I started enjoying the class. The class was actually really interesting and applicable in everyone’s life. Who doesn’t experience the weather on a day to day basis? I think it is pretty interesting to understand why the weather is the way it is. This class taught me more than characteristics of weather though, it taught me how to deal with situations I am not fond of, it taught me how to study, it taught me how to re-route my train of thought, and it taught me to be humble. I am not going to be good at everything, and I think that is the most important lesson I got from this class.

 

Goals for my last semester of college [in that order]:

• Enjoy college
• Spend more time with my friends
• Relax
• Work hard
• Stay up late
• Get a big girl job

Detroit Agency Tours with PRSSA

Tags

Agency, Agency Tour, Detroit, Franco, GM, Grand Valley, Lovio-George, PRSSA, Student, U of M Dearborn, Wayne State, Weber Shandwick

This past Friday, November 4 the Grand Valley PRSSA Chapter was joined by members of the Wayne State and U of M Dearborn Chapters to embark on some insightful agency tours in Detroit. The morning started with a gathering at Starbucks in the Renaissance Center (that is once everyone fought through Detroit traffic and a confusing design layout). Oh and a wonderful sight of hundreds of people dressed in anime costumes for the national Youmacon convention. It made for a very interesting day at the Renaissance Center.

Our first tour was with General Motors (GM). Although GM is not an agency, it gave us a great feel for corporate PR and also how corporate integrates the use of agencies.  GM talked a lot about how their communication department is organized; that includes everything from product communication to retiree communication. While walking around the department we stumbled upon GV PRSSA’s former president, Stephanie Rice, desk. This is where agency comes into play with corporate. Stephanie is actually an employee of Weber Shandwick. Corporate communication departments will work with a particular agency and integrate their professionals into their daily PR tasks. Often times the company does not have enough staff to cover everything so they use an agency or they know a particular agency specializes in a particular need so they will use those professionals. Stephanie is working onsite at GM doing PR for the numerous auto-shows that happen during the year. After learning about GM and how their communication department works, they talked to us about their internship program. They only take the best of the best and they hire very early for their summer internship program (had completed hiring by Nov. 1 for summer 2012).

The second agency tour we went on was at Lovio-George. This is a small agency in Mid-Town Detroit. The agency is in an old three story house, creating a beautiful environment and a homy feel. There were between 7-10 employees and one intern. Although the agency is rather small they work(ed) on some very large accounts, some of which include the Parade Company, River Days, and the 2006 Superbowl. One of the most enthralling things about this agency was their true love for Detroit. The owner, Cindy Lovio, gave us one of the most inspirational pep talks about Detroit I have ever heard. Knowing their true love for the city really gave us an idea about the type of work and time they put into their clients.

After a brief, but yummy, lunch at Panera we headed to Weber Shandwick in Birmingham. This tour was much different than the first two because they essentially let us run it. They gave us a tour of their building which was very cool. It used to be an old department store so it was an open layout with lots of natural light. After the tour we sat with a few of the agency professionals and asked them numerous questions ranging from tips to information about their clients. At Weber Shandwick we grew a better understanding of the integration of agency employee’s into corporate offices. Weber Shandwick does a lot of work with GM and has a few people on site with them. It was interesting to see the agency side of working with corporate after hearing about it from the corporate side in the morning with GM. Although we probably could have talked for another hour we had to get back to the Renissance Center to tour one last Agency, Franco.

Franco attracted all of our attention by sitting us at a table that was full of candy, yumm. Like Lovio-George, Franco does a lot of work with only a small number of people (17). Each member of their team works on numerous accounts and some of those accounts are full campaigns, not just special needs. The team at Franco really gave a sense of family and devotion to their work. (This was not the agency for me. I don’t know if it was the lack of natural light or the lack of people, but something about it just said no for me. Oh and the 4 month long extended interview in which you work 40+ hours a week and do not get paid. I don’t know about other people, but I cannot afford to do that.)

Although we started at 8:15am and were not done until about 5pm, the day was filled with excitement and learning. Each agency had something to teach us and I think by the end of the day our group was even more excited to be in PR than we were before the day began.

Family

Tags

family, friends, mom, under the bus

I am truly baffled by the amount of people I know that are not close to their family. My family is my everything, I would pick them over everyone and everything everyday. I am an only child so I have had the advantage of spending a lot of time with my family, but I do not think that is the reason I am so close to them. I know people who come from large families who are just as close with their family. The type of relationship you have with your family depends on the amount of time and work you are willing to put into it.  It is not always easy or fun, but in the end they will always be family and will always be there for you (hopefully).

The relationship I have with my mom could be compared more to a sister/best friend relationship. We do everything together from shopping, baking, crafts, school, etc. With that being said, my mom still plays a very important “mom” role in my life. She supports me, she gives me advice, and she tells me when I am doing something stupid. My mom’s favorite thing to say to me other than “I love you”, which I hear multiple times a day, is “I told you so.” I used to have the attitude of “I need to learn from my own mistakes, not yours,” but I have come to realize 95% of the time she is right so I have resorted to just listening to her; mom’s know all.

I understand that not everyone can have the same relationship with their family that I do, but most just flat-out don’t even try to, that is what baffles me. Maybe they have a very close group of friends that they consider their “family” and I don’t doubt this is possible, but from what I have experienced will throw you under the bus if it is for their benefit. I am not claiming to know/understand everyone’s individual situation, I am just stating an observation I have made.

                                                    

Professionals are people too.

Tags

Networking, professionals

“It is not what you know, but who you know”

This saying is something I and other college students hear on a daily basis, just about.  For the longest time I was against the saying, thinking “scru that I will prove to people I am educated and know more than the next applicant.” I soon came to the realization that I was only partially right in my thinking. WHAT you know is definitely important and essentially, but WHO you know is also important. My sophomore year of college I was introduced to the world/idea of networking. Little did I know how important networking was or how quickly it would consume my life. Luckily for me networking is not a chore or necessarily hard.

Networking is all about creating and maintaining relationships. Networking is not just going to organized networking events or corporate socials, it is much more than that.  It can be anything from talking to the neighbor down the street to running into the CEO of Ford in a coffee shop.  The point is that you talk to that person and develop a relationship with them.  If you have more than 30 seconds I would suggest getting to know them first before telling them all about you.  People like to talk about themselves, plus the more you learn about them the more you will know how they can be an asset to you.  Also, remember that it is not always about their full-time 9-5 job, what they do on the weekends or every other Wednesday can be just as important.  Find out if they have any hobbies or if they sit on any boards, all of this information can be beneficial to you.  Now, if you do not have very much time you need to be prepared with your “elevator speech” (for the record I hate that term).  People make it seem so scary and it really is not, it is just saying what you want to say in a very concise manner. In my elevator speech I try to accomplish 5 things: who they are, where they work, something personal about them (makes it easier the next time I speak with them), contact information, and most importantly I try to make sure they understand me and what I am all about (I want to distinguish myself).

I have found that for me the best way to network with professionals in the community is to volunteer. I know volunteering sucks sometimes, but you can meet some really great people through it plus you always feel good after.  Volunteer for anything you can/are interested in. I know for me I try to volunteer for things that are of interest/importance to me, but also things that are big in the community. Volunteering at things popular in the community can give you a better idea of who else might be around.  For example, I just recently volunteered at ArtPrize doing Media Hospitality. ArtPrize has a dozen different jobs for volunteers, but being a public relations major I wanted to be around the PR people and the media. Go out on a limb, do something out of your comfort zone.

Just start talking..