I have great news, I was ACCEPTED to IAAPA! Oh how life has it's many surprises. Basically, I get to travel to Orlando for a week and a half, spend all that time at the world's largest amusement park convention and learn not only about the industry, but have a great lesson on convention management and many opportunities for networking.
Here is the story that was written by the Mercyhurst Marketing Department:
Click picture for link
Life is busy, but I know that things like this make it all worth the chaos. I meant what I said at the bottom of the article. Mercyhurst is great and again, I thank Meghan Corbin for all the help and support.
As promised, here is a just a brief bitty on the happenings in the Communication Department.
NBS Group
Over the summer the department went through many changes, the biggest trigger of which was the department chair stepping down and moving to a different department. So another professor was appointed to chair and then re-appointed to dean and another professor was then appoint chair (lost yet??). Anywho, all of these changes, marked by years of neglect have honestly left the department in a bit of a decline.
This year, I am excited to say, has been marked with multiple student initiatives, which has created a lot of stuff happening in the department. Already, we had a Comm. Picnic sponsored by Comm. Board, a speaker by National Broadcasting Society, which will be repeated in a week by Public Relations Student Society of America, and finally a Comm. Dept. Townhall Meeting as an update to all the summer happenings.
So, my part in all of this is tremendous, which is the whole point of me telling you all of this. Any tour I give to perspective students gets a healthy filling of what I think is Mercyhurst's most exciting feature, which cannot be seen physically, just felt and played out. Student empowerment is key here and is the basis of me having the involvement in the department.
NBS is not only bringing in speakers. For the first time we are hosting the annual National Broadcasting Society Freedom States Convention, right here in Erie and right on campus. What does this mean? I means that our member not only get experience for going to a professional convention, but they also get to have their hand in every step of the process.
Check out the convention trailer on the left, which was created by one of our group members.
Up to this point, we have booked a hotel for our guests to stay at, secured over ten speakers to present at the event, secured food options and booked space on campus, and that doesn't include what needs to happen over the next five weeks. This is a great resume and portfolio builder for all of us.
Of course I obviously am biased towards Mercyhurst, but if you want a place where YOU will matter, and what YOU have to say makes a difference, this IS the place.
This is not me bragging, just simply making a point. If hadn't pushed for the convention, we wouldn't be hosting it right now and I would not being having this experience. I had an opportunity to have a say and now I am getting experience that will get ME a job one day. It's not a just about a degree, it's an education.
Kind of exciting news. I don't know if its been very obvious of recent, though you should be able to put it together from my work and posts about Williamsburg, but I am an amusement park junkie.
Back in June, after guidance from the great people at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, I applied to be an Ambassador at the annual IAAPA Convention in Orlando and was recently interviewed for the position.
Cross your fingers and say a prayer, this is a dream experience, plus they pay for everything, but getting there. Week and a half in Orlando anyone? Me me!
Here is a brief video on what exactly the convention is. There are only four places in the country that can host this event.
This seems to be an all too frequent opening line, but I apologize for my extended absence. This is my catch up for you since I've last published:
After I left Williamsburg, I spent 2 weeks in RA training and being a Laker Leader. If you are new to the blog, RA is Residence Assistance, which I am for freshman residents and absolutely love. Laker Leaders are Freshman Welcome Week ambassadors who help with all of the events. Both jobs are highly involved, but it was great to welcome the new class in with such style. Check out our Flash Mob:
(Wow, this seems forever ago)
The last three weeks have been utter chaos. As always, I have completely under estimated the complexity and the required time dedication of my classes. I have three large research papers this term, which all have turned out to be group papers. So, besides my three papers ( two 20 page and one 100 page) and four classes, I am also very much so involved in the Communication Department and working to bring the department back to life, which will be the subject of my next post.
Now three weeks in, the residents are good and it promises to be a good year. Please look for more updates in the coming days. I am going to be more dedicated to this thing if its the last thing I do.
I apologize for my blog neglect. The last month here has been crazy busy. I've had the opportunity to meet many higher ups, wonderful tours of the park and even present a project to the executives. This is my introduction of sorts for all the future posts that you will see.
I leave Williamsburg on Friday for Erie where I start RA training on Monday. I'm very exciting to go home and ready for school to get in the swing. There are many exciting things going on this year and I can't wait to share them with you. Stayed tuned.
