Category: Public Relations

Last week, in the prerequisite class for the IMC-Hawks, Integrated Marketing Communication I, students were assigned a project in which they had 48 hours to complete. The assignment was to create a multimedia campaign to promote UNCW. One group of students in the class proposed an idea to ask students and faculty “one question” in an attempt to capture their experience at UNCW in just a few words.

As this class, and many of our college careers come to a close, we decided to expand on this evoking concept and provide our own final few thoughts before we all sign off for the last time.

Looking back at my college career, I was offered a lot of advice but the one that held true no matter what the circumstance was to value your time here. These past four years have been frustrating, exhilarating, gleeful, melancholy, and turbulent but they have helped me grow and achieve things that I never thought possible. Treasure opportunities and learn from your mistakes; it’ll only make you a stronger, most resilient person in the end. – Jessica Kingman

UNCW provided me an opportunity to see the world. Studying abroad with UNCW to Valencia, Spain opened my eyes to various ideals, ethics and values other cultures engage in which I now incorporate into my life. – Michela Noreski

With one semester left in my college career, I’ve realized that you really shouldn’t hold back.  Do what makes you happy and don’t be scared to try new things; it’s all about the experience! – Liz LaPuasa

Everyone says that college changes their life forever – UNCW has definitely changed mine. As I am about to graduate, I realize how much I am not ready to leave this place. The best advice I can give to future Seahawks is a lesson learned from the one and only Tom Petty: “You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You’ll never remember class time, but you’ll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don’t have. Drink ’til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does…” – Jordan Hill

What does UNCW mean to me? It means opportunity. The opportunity to start fresh, the opportunity to expand my knowledge, the opportunity to be a part of a tight-knit community, the opportunity to meet new people, and most importantly, UNCW has been the opportunity for me to grow as a person. I could not have chosen a more perfect school to spend my college years. I’ll be graduating next December—and when I do, I guarantee you it’ll be with no regrets. – Stephanie Bakolia

I say, UNDER-PROMISE AND OVER-DELIVER and MEAN WHAT YOU SAY AND SAY WHAT YOU MEAN – Jared Sales

The UNCW COM Studies Dept. has afforded me the opportunity to become an employee at one of the most prestigious publishing companies in the world. – David Glaubach

My advice for the next IMC Hawks is: “Keep up with your work on a daily basis and be in full communication with your group members. If you all learn how to use your strengths, every assignment will become easier.” – Sally Shupe

As a senior who is graduating a year early, I cannot believe how much I have learned from UNCW and particularly from my amazing professors in the COM department in such a short amount of time. If I take away anything from this experience, it is that you must find a way to feel passionately about the work you do, no matter how trivial it may seem at the time because every assignment will help you develop further as a student and an educated citizen. – Claire Dillard

My advice for the next IMC class is to READ the books assigned! Not only are they very interesting and teach so much about integrated marketing, but they are a great to source for future interviews! Everyone in the business knows Shirky! – Ashley Nelson

There are so many things I could say but I am sure my classmates have covered most of them. My advice to you is simple…don’t forget why it is you are here and how important what you are learning is because we are the future. – Alaethea Hensley

My advice to the incoming IMC-Hawks is to remember the importance of every lesson you are encountering through this course, and every course you take at UNCW. Don’t just do it for the grade, see the importance in each problem, each assignment and each project. You will get out of the course what you put into it!-Lauren Phelps

UNCW to me is a place where I am able to fully reach my potential and grow as an individual, both creatively and intellectually. As a transfer student, I couldn’t be any happier with my decision. I think it is safe to say that the Communication Studies Department has given me tools to succeed in the working world. – Claire Outlaw

Thank you to my IMC 2 class for asking me to join them on their last post of the semester. Although this sounds like graduation advice, it’s more like life advice. I try and follow it as much as I can. — Henry James, the American-born writer (he wrote The Turn of the Screw and The Portrait of a Lady, among others, which you may remember from a literature course you might have taken at UNCW), wrote an article called “The Art of Fiction” that was published originally in 1884.  In this piece, James responds to a pamphlet about writing fiction from another writer, with whom James seems to disagree. I’m not a literary critic so I’m going to leave it at that. Anyway, one of the pieces of advice James gives to new writers of fiction has always resonated with me as a student, a scholar, a teacher, and a citizen: “Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost!” I offer to you, my IMC-Hawks, that being this kind of person – the kind on whom nothing is lost – is one of the best pieces of advice I can give you as you complete your B.A. in Communication Studies. To me, James is saying more than “pay attention;” he’s reminding us that a lot goes on that we ignore, either willfully or unintentionally, when we should be at our most conscious. I see it in my classes, when students are caught up in everything other than what we’re discussing that day; I see it in my son, who can get lost in a game of Angry Birds (my parenting award is on its way!); and I see it in my own behavior, when I have two monitors and an iPad and a cell phone and all are tuned to something different. To be the kind of person on whom nothing is lost, we sometimes have to stop paying attention to those distractions and focus on what’s in front of us. Conveniently, an education in communication studies teaches us to be the kind of person on whom nothing is lost. Rhetorical theory teaches us how to interpret oral and written communication. Paying attention to interpersonal communication helps you in your most intimate relationships. I try to demonstrate how understanding of IMC doesn’t just make you a better practitioner, it makes you a more conscious consumer and a more engaged citizen.  Being the kind of person on whom nothing is lost rejects the passive and embraces the active. Take an active role in your education, your occupation, your family life, your civic life. Don’t just sit back and let it happen to you. Good luck and I’ll miss you all!   – Dr. Persuit

We hope you have enjoyed our edition of the IMC-Hawks blog this past semester. Although this is our final blog post as a group, be sure to check-in in January for a new generation of IMC-Hawks! Until then — Stay classy, Seahawk Nation.

IMC-Hawks:  Oliver Evans, Jared Sales, Michela Noreski, Lauren Phelps, Jordan Hill, Alaethea Hensley, David Glaubach, Liz LaPuasa, Stephanie Bakolia, Sally Shupe, Claire Dillard, Ashley Nelson, Claire Outlaw, Jessica Kingman