National Broadcasting Society Freedom States Convention at Mercyhurst College

Hello Everyone, 

The National Broadcasting Society Freedom States Convention is now in the history books at Mercyhurst College. After 10 months and thousands of hours, the National Broadcasting Society Freedom States Convention at Mercyhurst College welcomed 70 guests from 7 different NBS Chapters from throughout the tri-state.

We were glad to host the event and be able to display a great piece of Mercyhurst hospitality, but that did not go unnoticed. I am glad to announce that the adviser's of the various chapters at the convention nominated Mercyhurst for Chapter of the Year, an honor that is historically applied for, but this time was nominated at the convention and awarded to our chapter.

						  National Broadcasting Society Freedom States Convention at Mercyhurst College 

We were proud to be sponsors of such an event, but now we are very happy that it is over. We have completely planned this event and it will surely be something that will be a highlight on our resumes. This is an opportunity that very few students are afforded, so thank you Mercyhurst. 

Thanks for reading, 

Joe

Challenges Beyond the Classroom

Hello Everyone,

The weeks are winding down and summer is coming ever closer... yes the sun is out there somewhere, even above the rainy/snowy Erie skies. Yes, I said snow, but no worries, it's not sticking.

This post is a kind of rehash and extension of a post that I had a couple weeks back. Here is a refresher:

"Finally, the reason that I bring this up, and I'm going to tease you here, is because recently I have been given the opportunity to make a different as a student. It is a tease because I cannot fully tell you what I am working on yet as I have to wait for the appropriate approvals to go through, but I have been given the opportunity to work with one of my professors to bring about a change that we have both been thinking about. I know that this project will be great practical experience that will one day be able to help me get a job, and I am excited to be a part of it. Now, if you want to get a little more information you could try emailing me, but for now this is all I can say. I am excited to be apart of this project and I know that it is because of the connections that I have at Mercyhurst that I am able to do this. Stay tuned for updates as this grows in the next couple weeks."

It is now time that I can spill a few more details. The project I am working on is in response to a growing movement in the communication department, which could be classified as unrest.  We are making an attempt to reorganize and reactivate the department by bringing back a former model that was once known as the Comm. Board. The idea to bring all of the functioning aspects of the department together and combine like efforts. In the past couple years the core comm. dept environment has faded, but this idea brings the people who work hard to get things done in the department together to get even more accomplished and reduces the overlap of like objectives into hopefully one unified and successful program. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to learn and create, and this opportunity is only available to me here, at Mercyhurst, in this small school where the opportunities endless.

If you've ever had a tour with me, or ever do, one of the biggest things I describe is the student engagement atmosphere that Mercyhurst creates. As I may have mentioned in the past, another one of my clubs, the Mercyhurst Chapter of the National Broadcasting Society, is hosting the society's regional convention come November. This is a great honor and a great learning experience for our club. I am fortunate enough to have the lead on this project and am continuously looking at different aspects on how we want to create this event. On the unfortunate side of reality, planning things on a college campus are very difficult as many of you will someday find. This real world experience comes with many headaches, but headaches and experiences that I would never give up.

Again, here on my soapbox I remind you that college is not just about the location, people you are with and the programs offered, but rather about how you utilize those things. These two examples are only my two largest projects and don't include the work I do as an Ambassador, or the time I spend during the Leadership Certification Program, as well the my new VP role on the board of the Public Relations Student Society of America and as a reporter of the Merciad (school newspaper). These are all opportunities that I have been motivated enough to involve myself in create experiences that will get me a job, and I am happy every day for these experiences. 

I hope this all makes sense and that this becomes more than just a rant on my end, but rather something useful. I tell you this now because I wish someone would have told me a long time ago.

Mercyhurst is a great place. I hope one day you can see and experience this too.

Thanks for reading,
Joe

Midterm Madness

Hello Everyone,

So it looks, at least for the moment, that there will be no more video posts. I have two posts that I never was never able to get up from before the holidays, but I'm still working on it.

Regardless, the holiday season is over and its back to work. It would seem as though the professors didn't skip a beat over the holidays because as we'll returned to normalcy last week, they were already going full steam ahead. (which is why I didn't have a chance to post)

My classes are all going relatively well, but i could be doing better. As midterm is at the end of the week, I have a lot of catching up to do. Philosophy continues to be a pain, I'm not sure what it is, but what I do know is that I am thankful that I only have to take one philosophy course.

Catholic Persons and Traditions (let me remind you that I did in fact choose this course, which you could choose something outside of Catholicism and even Christianity all together) has been a great. I have enjoyed learning more about my personal religion and the discussion that comes with learning about a faith.

Crisis Communications has been an amazing course. It's very discussion based and we go through different crises, such as BP oil spill, the Toyota recalls, and more. We discuss the role of PR as it works to maintain companies images.

Finally, Communication Techniques is an amazing course because it is 100% practical. We have a different project due every week, but they are exactly the information that we discussed throughout the week. i.e.- press releases, memos, fact sheets, etc. Its great to be able to learn about stuff related to your field when you're only a sophomore.

Okay, so I I know you would have appreciated this update a lot sooner, but I got it out to you. I can only hope that senior year is going well for everyone and that Mercyhurst is still in the running for you all. As always, please Please PLEASE feel free to contact me at any time with any questions or concerns. My knowledge is at your disposal.

Take it easy. Thanks for reading,
Joe

Back at Work...

Hello everyone,

I would first like to offer my sincere apologies for my lengthy absence. If you are unaware our term ends right before Thanksgiving so I was I little overwhelmed with papers and tests. Fortunately I survived and refreshed after a nice week and a half break, plus we only have a three week sprint to Christmas. So, no complaints.

On a sad note over break one of our students, Jenni-Lyn Watson went missing from her New York home, only for her remains to be discovered this past Saturday in a local park. Jenni-Lyn was a Junior Dance major and will be seriously missed by many on campus. Through this tragedy the Mercyhurst community has held prayer services, we're sending a bus of interested students to attend her funeral, and have started fundraising for an organization that deals with missing children, which played a large role in the search for Jenni-Lyn. While I would never wish this situation to happen it truly exemplifies this community and the connections and relationships that is intertwined within it. Our thoughts and prays go out to Jenni-Lyn, her parents, family, friends, and specifically all of those who were active to the search.

While this was a very sad note to return to school on, classes are restarting so it is once again time to get back into the routine. This term I have one Mon-Wed-Fri class and three Tues-Thurs class (not the most preferred schedule). I have Crisis Communication, Philosophical Inquiry, Communication Techniques, and Catholic Symbols and Traditions.

As always I am very excited for my communication classes. Its awesome to be excited about your classes because you know that one day you are going to actually be called on to apply what you've learn. Its nice to know that I've enjoyed learning it so I can only hope that I will enjoy using it. My philosophy course I cannot say that I am excited to take, but I have to take it so it will be good to get it out of the way. As for my Catholic Symbols and Traditions class it will also be my last religion class, seeing as we have to take two, but the last religious studies course, which I also took with this professor, was truly enjoyable purely for the brilliance of this professor (Montevecchio if you were wondering), so for that I am excited.

Well, that is my update. Everything is getting back into order, but I can only imagine what this term has in store for me.

Thanks for reading,
Joe

P.S.- My birthday passed over break so I am now a proud owner of a Flip-Cam, so I hope to be able to include more videos in my posts, so keep an eye out for those!

Summing up the term

Hello,

As of today we have about a week left of classes and two weeks until the end of finals. All of my professors are kinda moving toward summing up everything that we have been talking about all term and moving toward actually preparing us for the numerous tests, papers, and/or projects that we have due. 

Just to give you an idea...

Mathematical Problem Solving- Yes, sound easy? It is. This math course falls into the "Common Core" or the general education courses that all students have to participate in. (I will write another post explaining the core) This course goes through trigonometry, fiance, probability, and something else that I cannot remember at the moment. While this course is only one of many I decided to go with the easier class simply due to my lack of interest in math and the fact that I do not have a great need for high math skills. The nice thing about this class is that there are only four quizzes and four tests, therefore... NO CUMULATIVE FINAL! So, that makes  me happy :-)

World Politics- This classes is a great example of using the Core to your advantage. As I have expressed in my description I am a political science minor and to get a minor you must take "American Government" and 8 other poli sci courses, of which three areas have political science courses. So when I'm done with the Core I will already by a third of the way done with my minor. Ok, so World Politics was a pretty easy class assuming that you enjoy politics. This class had one test and two papers on current issues, along with critical thinking blogging assignments throughout the term. This class falls into my core and my minor. It was good, easy, and interesting... the best of all worlds. 

Principles of PR- This class has been overwhelmingly my favorite class this term. It has had a medium work load, but for the most part the professor doesn't just lecture from a powerpoint and podium, rather she is moving around, has the class critically thinking about various and current topics. With two "midterm" like tests and a large project, it remains my favorite. Today we listened to a presentation from Greg Verdino through American Marketing Association about Social Media and Networking. The picture on the right shows a picture of this presentation. Our school works really hard at diversifying the style in which we learn and this is only one example.

Religions Persons and Traditions- My final class is one of our three required religion courses. Being a Catholic college, this is a just a fact that everyone must take religion classes, but there are a wide variety of classes that have nothing to do with Catholicism and therefore make there is no sense of a religion being forces on the students. This class was difficult with a lot of religious theory, but more so due to the number of tests and papers. The thing I admired most about this class is the professor; he was brilliant! A class may be difficult, but when you have someone who knows their stuff and makes you interested, no matter how hard the class you start to enjoy it.

Ok... that was a lot, but those are all the course I am just finishing up with. I guess there are two morals from this story... 1. It doesn't have to be a "major" class for you to enjoy it and 2. If you enjoy your "major" then you have way more fun it its classes :-D

Thanks for reading,
Joe