New York, New York

Sorry for the delayed post of my East Coast adventure...alas, here it is

My time of preparation for this trip was quite short and made very difficult by the onset of a severe head and chest cold. I lost my voice completely, and was coughing, sneezing, and blowing all my energy away. But despite how horrible I was feeling, I drove to Orange County and spent the day back at school meeting with various professors to get advice for each aspect of my presentation. The professor in whose class I wrote this project was very helpful and encouraging and even paraded me around the Comm department, introducing me to the new Assistant Dean and even set up an interview with the editor of the website and alumni newsletter who will be writing a feature story on me. All of this would have been much more flattering if I was able to pronounce words and not cough loudly and uncontrollably. I spent the rest of the weekend drinking tea and sleeping as much as possible at my best friend Jenna's house, and with some emergency anti-biotics from my Aunt, I was feeling better and at least slightly presentable as I drove to LAX at 4:30am on Monday morning.

My non-stop flight to JFK was all together uneventful, and upon arrival I met another finalist from USC as we waited for the car to take us to the hotel. We arrived at the Roger Smith Hotel with only an hour and a half to get ready for our dinner, so I didn't have time to do any exploring. Before dinner was the first time the 5 of us we are introduced, the other 3 finalists were from UNC, Oklahoma State, and Oswego University. We were driven to Soho for dinner at a Latin Fusion restaurant where we were joined by 3 women from Hill&Knowlton and 3 from PRWeek Magazine, of which 3 were judges. When we got back to the hotel, I spent several hours in the lobby preparing and got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep.

The morning came early as we had to be checked out and ready to go at 8am. The 15 walk to and from the Hill&Knowlton offices was the only time we spent outside, but it was a beautiful winter day in the city, cold and snowy but enchanting all the same. I would really like to spend some real time in a big city I think. Upon arriving at the office, we were brought into a small conference room where we would be waiting for the rest of the day, except for the few times we were in front of the judges.

The first part of the day was the 30 minute presentation. I went 4th and felt this was by far my best part of the day. I felt calm and steady and confident in my ideas. The judges had positive feedback and relatively easy questions, I felt great leaving the room. The second part was the editor pitch, the only portion i felt nervous and under prepared for. Our target was Matt Boyle, a business editor for BusinessWeek Magazine, and it was his goal to be the toughest, rudest, more insensitive, and unnecessarily harsh journalist that he could be. Needless to say, he succeeded in his goal with all but 1 of us. Luckily, we were all able to laugh with each other and brush it off our shoulders. The final part of the day was a crisis response simulation, in which we had 10 minutes to respond. During this portion, I felt tired and distracted and it showed to the judges. While I thought I understood and had a good plan for the big picture, there were a few obvious details that I overlooked. After leaving the office at 2:30, we only had about an hour to wait for the car to the airport, so the remaining 3 of us enjoyed a well deserved drink in the hotel bar.

I arrived back at JFK around 4:30 for a 6:30 flight, only to be delayed over 9 hours due to icing on the planes. I finally got back to LA at 6 in the morning, just in time for a beautiful west coast sunset. Overall, I really enjoyed getting a glimpse of corporate life in an industry I really believe I can thrive in. I am so thankful for this experience and flattered by this consideration.

All that being said, I was not chosen as one of the top 2 to return to NY in March for the PRWeek Awards. I'm not disappointed or upset in any way. I'm happy to be able to stay focused on my next step of going to Europe for now, and am so excited to see what happens as a result of this experience in my future career. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support, as always it is greatly appreciated.

This was my hotel room...the bed was amazing!!

Thursday's with Jude

During my time at home, I have been able to spend thursday mornings with my most favorite nephew while ReAnnon tutors a little boy in Crowley. These mornings with Jude are simple, relaxed and just plain fun. I usually watch "planet earth" while I wait for him to wake up from his morning nap, and make sure I have cheerios, water, and his favorite toys ready to play. We then spend about an hour playing peek-a-boo, crawling around, flipping through animal flash cards, and playing "'hide the paci." He is such a sweet boy and I love my time with him, I just can't wait for him to be walking, talking, and growing into a stellar little boy.

Here are some pics...

News

Well let me just say that I never thought that my second blog post would contain such out of the ordinary news, but it seems that my transition into professional life might be moving along more quickly than I had imagined...

Last week I recieved a phone call from a representative of PRWeek Magazine, the most important and influential public relations industry publication. She called to tell me that I was chosen as a finalist for PRWeek's "Student of the Year" competition...now let me explain what this means.

This last semester, my very last at CSUF, I was in a class called PR Agency Seminar in which we explored the realitites and challenges of agency life. I should say that by the end of this class, I was less than excited to pursue an agency career, feeling that an "in house" corporate lifestyle would suit me better. Anyway, our final assignment in this class was do this year's PRWeek competition assignment, a comprehensive PR campaign for the up coming NBA All-Star Week including intensive market research, original events, logistical planning, and a creative viral marketing campaign. As an insentive, my professor offered 20 extra credit points to the students who recieved an A on the assignment if they turned it in to the competion. So I did in the hopes of pushing my overall grade over the "A" mark, which did not happen ultimatley.

While I did get a good grade on this project, my professor had many notes and critiscisms on the practicality of some of my ideas. He said more than once, "they will never let the athletes do this!" So you can imagine my suprise to get the call that I am one of 5 finalists out of somewhere around 20,000 entries nation wide. I called my professor to give him the news and he was just as shocked as I was, but needless to say, he has offered his support for the remainder of this process and will perhaps even offer to change my grade.

The next step of this process is an all-expenses paid trip to New York City to give a presentation of my project in front of a panel of PRWeek employees, world renowned journalists, and industry executives. Should I be chosen as one of the top 2 in this group, I will be flown back to New York in March to attend the annual PRWeek Awards, a black tie gala event at Tavern on the Green. The winner will recieve $5000 and a paid internship at Hill&Knowlton, one of the largest and most influencial PR firms in the country.

I cannot expect everyone to fully understand the magnitude of being chosen for this honor in terms of its influence on my future in this industry, but the implications are huge. And as a 22 year old fresh out of college, this is an incredible boost to my confiedence in entering such a difficut econimic climate. The only down side to this news is the very short notice. I have only one week to prepare for maybe the biggest presentation of my life.

I'm doing my best to relax, stay focused, and remember that my ideas got me here in the fist place and if I can just hold my own in that room, I think I might have a real shot at winning this thing...we'll see I guess

Statement of Purpose

So I have finally joined the magnificent blog-o-sphere, after years of defiance.

I suppose I that since my post-college life consists of more than just endless cups of coffee, sugar-free red bulls, counltess library hours and scattered naps whenever possible; I might have enough going on in my life to warrant such a blog. I'm also hoping that if I can trick myself into thinking that blogging is different than journaling, maybe I will start doing a better job of chronicling my adventures, misadventures, and general day-to-day living.

For any who don't know: I just recently graduated from Cal State Fullerton with my Bachelor's Degree in Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations. I have move home for the winter to live cheaply, save money, and spend some good time with my family. I'm so thankful for this season that I can rest my brain and decompress from 41/2 long years of hard work at college.

My next step is still working it self out, but I'm very excited to be headed back to Europe for a Sports PR internship and some more, much desired world travel. Keep checking back for details as the come together.

For those who read this blog, thank you for your attention. I hope that my writing is complelling, entertaining, engaging, and enjoyable...