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Memorial Day is a holiday designated to the remember those who served this country to protect the rights we Americans hold dear. According to usmemorialday.org over two dozen cities claim to be the birth place of Memorial Day, but its’ roots ultimately rest in Waterloo N.Y. declared by Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, but no one  really knows the true birth place of this American holiday.
The once pure holiday given to Americans to remember their loved ones has turned into a summer time Black Friday sale. People spend more time in lines and online trying to find great sales as illustrated in Huffingtonpost story about how people will be spending their time.

Memorial Day was meant to remember true American heroes such as Chris Kyle and Marcus Luttrell who have recently had major box office hits written about their lives and how they served this country.
One of the strategies used to help promote Memorial Day sales is Discount strategy, This allows retailers to move dead product, market penetration, reward your loyal customers and gain advantage over your competition. Capitalist greed has overshadowed Memorial Day and companies have used advertisement methods to achieve monetary goals. Large “Patriotic” sales signs litter businesses weeks before Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day commercials plague TV stations and the radio, in attempt to persuade the public that they need to go out, spend money, and buy a washing machine or mattress instead of honoring the fallen warriors or America.
     

Perhaps it’s time to get back to the root of what Memorial Day is really about and promote events that honor those killed in war.

-Spencer Brenes, James Cronberger, Jill Jardine.

This Monday students and some businesses had a day off from school or work to celebrate the changes Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, made to the American civil rights movement to create racial equality. MTV decided to recognize the holiday by taking a day off from colored television. On Monday, MTV broadcasted all programs in black and white, and featured celebrities, as well as public officials, sharing personal stories or struggles they have faced.

How does taking the color out of programs do anything? The goal of the black and white screen is to get people talking about race, how we’ve grown, and how much more we have to grow as a nation. This is all part of MTV’s “#TheTalk” initiative. Not to be confused with the awkward “other” talk that your parents give you in middle school. But one that allows for kids to ask their parents questions about race or discuss with friends something they saw in the news.

The day was filled with celebrity interviews with Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, Jordin Sparks, and more. It also featured conversations with public officials like, Senator Rand Paul, Senator Cory Booker, and Congressman John Lewis who talks about his friendship with Martin Luther King, Jr. Viewers could share their opinions of these stories and their own personal experiences by tweeting or instagramming using the hashtag, #TheTalk.

This is all part of the bigger campaign, “Look Different”, which strives to educate people about hidden bias and how they can make a change. Lookdifferent.org is the website for the cause and features informational articles, blogs, videos, and activites to teach visitors about different biases and issues.

MTV is back in color, but #TheTalk continues. What will you contribute?

-Kelli Hall, Mallory Brayman, Morgan McCleaf

Every third Monday of January, millions of Americans take a break from school or work to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Yesterday, America celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. for all of the progress he made during the civil rights movement.

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, MLK Day is meant to be a day of service, where we continue to pursue the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. was in search of. The organization uses advertising methods through their website and social media to encourage their target market to make this a holiday on, rather than off. Every year, hundreds of people across the United States participate in the MLK Day of Service. But how do organizations continue to reach their market and get them to participate in service projects that promote MLK day?

Hand on Networks is a non-profit organization that advocates for MLK Service Day. Advertising tactics through social media and word of mouth marketing are used to promote service by giving people tangible and realistic ways to get involved. They also report on activities and projects that are happening across the nation. By advertising on social media platforms as well as simple, yet effective word of mouth marketing, they obtain their goal to use advertising to promote and encourage others to participate.

There are many organizations that participate in MLK Service Day, such as Hands on Atlanta,  Service for Peace, Points of Light, and others. Although it’s too late to participate in MLK Service Day 2015, be on the lookout for advertisements for MLK Service Day 2016.

So, what did you do with your day on?

-Anna Joy Zima, Hannah Rodgers, Kaitlyn Russell

I vividly remember riding home on the bus on one of the last days of 8th grade. Specifically, I remember being scared of growing up but assuring myself that the day I graduated college would never come. It was too far away. I remember being terrified of who I would become as a young adult.

Well, you might have guessed it–the time did come. In just eight days, I’ll walk out of Trask Coliseum with a B.A. in Communication Studies. It is surreal, in a sense, that the time is finally here–hearing about graduation all my life and now I’m finally preparing to walk across the stage. There are things that I will miss about being a college student, absolutely. I’ll miss the beach, the long summers, the one-month winter vacations, the blank check to eat whatever I want and the friends I’ve made here. But ultimately, I’m not dreading graduation, or working a “real job.” I’m looking forward to it. UNC-Wilmington, and specifically the Communication Studies department, has made me into the man I am today. Our major certainly wasn’t an easy one, and I had to take many courses and complete many assignments that I absolutely dreaded. However, I’m very grateful for them now because I see their importance in the post-grad world. There’s no feeling quite like being able to apply your academics to “the real world,” but Communication Studies has given me plenty of opportunities to do this. Seeing the transformative model of mediation in practice at my internship was exciting. Using my Journalism classes to write clear and concise writing has prepared me for most any job I’ll end up taking.

I even hesitate to say that I won’t miss certain things that may seem bothersome–like reading pages and pages of work I wasn’t interested in, or writing long papers late into the night. But even after I did these things, there was a sense of accomplishment. There’s always been a sense of accomplishment in my work, and I can only hope I don’t lose that after graduation.

Right now, it seems like my 30th birthday is forever away. It will never come. Neither will my 40th, or my 50th–it’s almost a separate reality. But just as I would have told my 8th grade self on the bus back in 2006, it will be here much quicker than you know it. I’m not scared this time. I’m ready.

–Brandon Hawkins

My journey to this point has been long and full of bumps in the road, but it has been a memorable and rewarding process. It didn’t start here, but I’m very happy with my decision to complete my education at UNCW. From advising to my current courses, I found UNCW and the Communication Studies Department to be one of the best experiences in my education.

After I graduated from high school way back in 2004, I attended Western Carolina University where I didn’t really take my education seriously as an immature young “adult.” I decided to give my education a rest and sought a different direction for the meantime, which I found in the military. After completing my four years of service, I found myself much more mature and prepared to take on college. Sometimes you’re just not ready for college and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but I’m not one to leave goals unaccomplished. I chose UNCW as the place where I would make that happen and it ended up being a great decision.

Finding the Communication Studies major gave me a new direction and provided me with opportunities that I could really put my mind to. I was originally a history major, which is something that still deeply interests me, but I also had a strong desire to study advertising. I spoke with some alumni who recommended the communication route and changed my major last year. I was soon introduced to the IMC side of the program and haven’t looked back since.

The Communication Studies Department has given me nearly everything that I could possibly need to be successful after graduation and I couldn’t be happier with my experience. Although I have the typical anxiety of venturing into the unknown, I feel ready to take on whatever comes next. I want to extend a huge thank you to all of the professors who have helped me realize my goal and all the best to our future graduates. As Dr. Olsen would say, “peace out” UNCW.

-Bobby Huckabee

From the beginning of my college adventure I feared the day when I would finally walk across that stage to shake the chancellors hand and receive my diploma. Not much has changed about that fear, but thanks to my degree in Communication Studies at UNCW I now have a sparked a sense of excitement. Like every other student in college, I’m afraid of the unknown, which is why I enjoyed college so much. I knew what classes and professors I was going to be taking each semester, but once you graduate the rest of your life is full of unknowns. But now I feel excited about the unknowns because of how well this department has prepared me for life after college.

I began my college adventure at Lenoir-Rhyne as a student athlete majoring in Sports Management, but after two years at a university smaller than my high school I knew I needed a change of scenery.  It wasn’t easy to leave my lacrosse team behind because of the bond we created over those two years but I felt very strongly that earning a degree at UNCW benefit me in the long run.  Upon arriving on campus I knew UNCW didn’t offer Sports Management as a major so I turned to the major that I felt would give me the best chance to enter a related field.

I’d be lying if I said I loved UNCW from the moment I stepped on campus because in reality my first year wasn’t everything I imagined it would be.  It was the first time I was not on a sports team where I was forced to become friends with the guys I was around everyday.  Instead of sulking around I decided to be more active on campus and I joined the Club Lacrosse team.  I obviously didn’t get the same sense of team bonding as  I did with my team at my old school but it was better than nothing.  That is why I encourage everyone to join at least one club on campus your first semester here and to stick with it until you graduate.  The Club Lacrosse team has had its obstacles, but I have really enjoyed seeing the transformation of the team, which will be rewarding for any club you decide to join.  Once I found my niche here in Wilmington I have loved being here more than anything and hope I never have to leave.

I really didn’t expect to love Wilmington as much as I did, but the more I got involved on campus and in the community, the harder it is going to be for me to leave this beautiful city.  College is the most important part of anyone’s life because it is the first time you finally leave home and find out who you truly are as an individual.  Like every other student I have been faced with tough decisions that have formed me into the person I am today and I wouldn’t change any choice I made during my journey.  I’m still afraid of the unknowns that life has in store for me after I walk across that stage, but thanks to my experiences here at UNCW I know I’m ready for anything life throws at me, which has made me really excited for my future.

Tony Mangili

I thought I had been ready for graduation years ago but to my surprise, I’m sad to see it come to an end.

I first began college in Florida with a major similar to Communication Studies but not quite the same. I wasn’t thrilled with the curriculum but I was too content living with my parents and wasn’t ready to move away from them. But something happened in the middle of my sophomore year, I fell in love.  To make a long story short, I ended up in Jacksonville, NC as a newlywed.

My apartment in Jacksonville, NC is an hour and a half from UNCW so it was originally out of the question. I found a job and planned on enrolling in school online to finish my degree. I started seeing the obstacles military spouses face with having their own profession and decided that I needed to finish my degree sooner and not put it off. I was determined.

Reading over the Communication Studies Department page I was intrigued and knew that I wanted to finish my degree at UNCW. My previous schools had degrees more along the lines of “Mass Media” and those programs didn’t thrill me, I didn’t want to focus solely on that concentration within Communication Studies. The broad curriculum here will help me tremendously when I graduate since I have learned everything from Rhetorical Theory and IMC, to Desktop Publishing.  I feel that the instruction I have received,will allow me to succeed in almost any field.

My journey to UNCW has been a long and complicated one but I wouldn’t change a thing. I want to sincerely say thank you to the COM Department for offering me the opportunity to obtain my degree here and giving me the privilege to learn from such inspiring professors. I don’t know what my next step is just yet but I know that I have been given the tools to succeed.

-Danielle Walters