The Countdown Begins…

…to Senior Seminar night.

Tomorrow evening, Miss Amanda and I will be presenting our senior project, TheWoodWord.org, to friends, family, and colleagues in an evening which promises to be a great experience. It’s also the final event of Communications Week at Marywood, which I’ve spent the last few weeks helping to plan and be a part of.
Yesterday was a busy day, but one that was filled with lots of communication (I had to stay in the theme of the week!) First off, I began my Wednesday communicating with Annie (the cat), who woke me up to tell me that it was time for a belly rub and maybe a treat. She’s so sweet…

Then, I cleaned the apartment and started writing. On the agenda for yesterday were tasks for work study and some senior project work. I outlined the webmaster style guide for TheWoodWord.org and started jotting down ideas for the presentation. By the time I finished, it was time to book it over to campus for The Changing Art of Communications panel event, which I helped promote on campus and abroad.

The panel was an awesome experience and a lot of great topics were discussed, including future technologies, job searching tips, and things to expect in the future of communications. I think it’s great that this event was able to happen in the first place, but I’m more impressed by the number of students who attended. For everyone in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it was a beautiful day and I know that it would have been a lot of fun to spend some time outside. I chose to spend my time at the panel though and I have to say that I’m very glad I did. I got to meet a lot of fabulous people in person.

One of those people was Dolores Nolan, a Marywood alum and the VP of Membership at the Radio Advertising Bureau. I had previously connected with Dolores while helping to promote the panel discussion and exchanged a few emails as I interviewed her for a piece that will be featured in the April issue of The Wood Word. She’s an awesome person and incredibly accomplished. Dolores, if you’re reading this, it was such a pleasure to finally get to meet you in person!

Another person I got to connect with at this event was Gary Arlen, President of Arlen Communications. Gary is a media futurist and was the keynote speaker for the event. He was incredibly friendly and we chatted quite a bit about our tastes in movies. (Gary, I’ll be sure to add some of the movies you mentioned to my Netflix queue.) I love it when you get to make those sorts of connections!

After the panel, I had to head back to the apartment to do some work on the Senior Project. Amanda and I finished the presentation slides last night and will be finalizing everything this evening. I can’t believe how fast time flies during your final semester as an undergrad.

Finally, I ended my evening with a Public Relations Student Society of America meeting. This would by my last meeting as President of the chapter, an office which I’ve held for three years now. I am so proud of everyone in the organization and I’m astounded by how much progress we’ve made in the past few years. We’ve done things we never dreamed of. We’ve been recognized by the national PRSSA for a best practice in the development of our E-Resources Guide. We’ve volunteered more. We’ve discussed more issues. We’ve practiced more skills. We grew. All of these things, coupled with the wonderful people I’ve gotten to work with throughout my time as President makes PRSSA one of the best experiences of my life thus far. I’m humbled and honored to have served as President for this chapter and I know that Donya and Maggie will do a fabulous job keeping us growing and developing and always ahead of the curve. :)

After the meeting had ended, my friend Dan (better known as DJ Divo, host of “It Came from the Desert” on VMFM 91.7) made a comment that got me thinking. He started talking about how he feels there’s some sort of cosmic map that draws people to one another. I couldn’t agree more. Communication is the result of attraction and I’m a firm believer that one is attracted to others that he or she can learn from in some way.

Yesterday was just one example of how communication – and some sort of awesome attraction – guides us towards learning. I learned from the panelists. I learned from PRSSA members. I learned from friends. I learned from an awesome member of the Marywood faculty. That’s a lot of knowledge in a single day and it makes me excited to see what happens today and tomorrow; to see who I’ll learn from and who I’ll meet.

SHAMELESS PLUG: Senior Seminar at Marywood University. Friday, April 23, 2010. Begins at 3:00 PM. Located in the Media Center, Room 160 in the Learning Resources Center. For more info, visit us on Facebook.

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