Tag: Seahawk

I Believe I Can Fly

December 4, 2013

It’s hard to believe that a week and a half from today, I will be in my cap and gown, and the life I know as a student will be over. I will be graduating from the University of North Carolina Wilmington as a Communication Major, focusing in Advertising and Public Relations! It has taken me 5 ½ years, 4 schools, and 3 different majors to get to where I am now (let’s just say I like to experience new things…often). Wilmington, UNCW, and the Communication Studies department specifically has been the perfect fit for me and I finally feel at home, a place to stay. Although I no longer feel that I have the mental or financial capacity to stay a student, UNCW will always feel like home to me and Wilmington is where I hope to start my career!

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So at the moment, in between juggling my final projects for the six courses I am taking, I am also applying to jobs in Wilmington within the marketing field. I have always said that I would move away from Wilmington for the perfect job, but they would have to pay me enough so that I could travel back whenever I want! I hope to work for a marketing agency or firm, but an in-house position at a company is something I will consider as well. Unlike many other Seahawk peers I do feel ready to enter the “real world” and soar!

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Being a student in the Department of Communication Studies of UNCW is where I have grown and continue to grow into the young professional that I aspire to become. When I transferred to UNCW, I had most of my general courses out of the way so I jumped right into the steps to become a COM major! This included taking Introduction to Communication (COM 150) with Dr. Weber and Research Methods (COM 200) with Dr. Olsen at the same time, which didn’t intimidate me at all. It only confirmed I was in the right department with the right professors. What makes the Communication Department at UNCW so successful is the professors. Through my Public Relation courses with Professor Chin, I have learned how to keep pushing harder to get the results I want under strict deadlines. Through my Capstone course with Professor Trimble, I can professionally present myself to (and impress) employers with an outstanding resume, cover letter, portfolio and interview skills.

The most influential professor that has made a huge impact on my life here is Dr. Persuit. From the moment I stepped in my transfer orientation, she caught my interest with this concept called IMC (Integrated Marketing Communication… duh), I took her class and I am hooked! Through the multiple courses I have taken with her she has not only taught me great insights on the many aspects of marketing but also on life in general. Ultimately she has inspired my creative passion for marketing! One quote from Dr. Persuit that I will never forget is “IMC’s goal isn’t to change attitude, it is to change behavior”; I have not only incorporated this within my marketing classes but throughout my life.

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So my experience at UNCW has been a little bit different than most. I didn’t enter as a freshman so I don’t have crazy dorm memories nor did I make my best friends here at UNCW. The experience UNCW did give me was a chance to expand my knowledge and practice what I would like to do with my life; and that is something that no one can ever take away from me! So thank you to everyone who helped me along the way here at UNCW, whether you are have been my professor, classmate, or just the barista at Port City Java in Randall, I appreciate it. I will always be a Seahawk at heart, I’m just spreading my wings and ready to fly!

-Kelsey Raskob

And Just Like That… It Is Over

December 6, 2012

Nine days. Nine days until I graduate from the Department of Communication Studies. Nine days until I graduate from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Nine days.

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Two years ago I transferred to the University of North Carolina Wilmington and felt like a lost puppy. I started my collegiate experience at a tiny college in the mountains of North Carolina that had max 700 students. When I stepped foot onto the campus here I felt overwhelmed and out-of-place. For the first week of classes I carried a campus map around with me. Yes, I was that person. Now, you cannot get me to leave campus. I clock in close to twelve-hour days almost every day and would not have it any other way. This campus and most importantly, this department, have become a part of me.

When I first decided to become a COM major I missed the deadline to register for COM 105 so I decided to write 44898_4007609985004_1192673791_nmy appeal so I could receive an over-ride into the class. I thought that I followed all of Dr. Weber’s strict guidelines but made the one mistake that no COM major should ever make… I wrote ‘Communications Studies’. It was social suicide. Needless to say, I received a very detailed response from Dr. Weber explaining why I would not be getting into the class and how I need to do more research before I claim I want to be a part of this department. Today, I have taken a class with Dr. Weber every semester since taking COM 105 (after I got registered the next semester), completed a DIS (Direct Independent Study) with him and just received the Undergraduate Research Award from him. It is funny how everything comes full circle!

Not only have I thrived within the department but outside of it as well. This past summer I had the experience of a lifetime. I was offered a position as one of twenty-five interns at the 2012 Philadelphia Eagles Training Camp. This was the opportunity of a lifetime and I was fortunate enough to have the support of my professors Dr. Weber and Dr. Persuit. These professors shared the excitement with me and kept up with me throughout my time up in Pennsylvania, although I am sure Dr. Persuit would have preferred me to have been at the Steelers Training Camp. For a month I was immersed in the culture of the Northeast, the land of WaWa gas stations, where pizzas are called pies, subs are hoagies and people stared at me when I would say “holy cow!” I got to see first hand the behind the scenes process of a professional sports team. The level of organization was amazing and pushed me to work as hard as I possibly could.

Training Camp was held at Lehigh University and we were involved in every aspect of it. We started our journey together by completely setting up camp prior to the arrival of the rookie players. Once rookies arrived we had close to fourteen hour days. We started our days around 5:45am, worked morning practice, had a lunch break, worked afternoon practice and then were able to leave once everything was broken down and all players were back in the locker room. Veterans arrived a week after the rookies and I was so thankful for their arrival at camp because that meant filet mignon and lobster tails in the dining hall! I could singly handedly write this entire blog on the food I ate at training camp but will end this little tid bit with your mouth watering as you think about the jumbo shrimp, king crab legs, and monsterous lobster tails that we consumed daily. Hungry yet?

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Because of my strong communication skills my boss put me at the Welcome Tent for the afternoon practice. The afternoon practice was the busiest because it was full pads for two plus hours every day. Training Camp drew in close to 7,000 fans daily and I was the first person they came in contact with upon their arrival. My job was to be in constant contact with my boss over the radio, make the fans feel welcome and get them excited about being at camp.

When I came back to “civilian life” as I called it, I felt like a changed person. All of my COM classes prepared me for that experience. I utilized my interpersonal and small group skills but also conflict resolution because some fans were not so friendly. I know, hard to believe for Philadelphia fans. After interning with the Eagles I am a much more confident communicator and know what it takes to complete tasks and complete them well. This experience has opened up a whole new world for me. My professors have a strong level of trust in me. I have been fortunate enough to represent the department while meeting Provost Battles, help with media training and be a part of an amazing DIS project.

Although entering the ‘real world’ is nerve-wracking, I feel 100% prepared for this next step. I will be a temporary employee in the Seahawk Sports Marketing Department here at UNCW and feel fortunate to have such a wonderful job with wonderful bosses.

To wrap things up my advice to all of you is to embrace everything this major has to offer. You never know what direction it can take you and it is up to you to make the most of it. Two years ago I would have never imagined that I would be the person I am today. Thank you to all of my family, friends and professors who have helped to mold me into a strong and confident individual. I look forward to hearing what great things everyone comes to accomplish and staying in touch with the professors who I can never thank enough for all they have done. Remember your Seahawk roots and Dare to Soar in everything you do.

–Caroline Merrill

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Time Flies, When You’re In College

December 7, 2011

I can remember kindergarten graduation like it was last week. I had on my white dress, frilly socks with my shiny, white shoes (I never understood this style) – big white bow in my curled hair, and lipstick. I remember being incredibly embarrassed when I walked across the stage to get my diploma; simply because when they announced my name and my aspirations of being an ice skater when I grew up: the crowd burst into laughter. My graduating kindergarten class of 1996 was full of future firefighters, doctors, teachers, policemen, and then there was me – the future ice skater. Needless to say, where I am from we do not have ice rinks; we barely even get snow every other year.  This experience at an early age, to realize that I was different and had an imagination, paved the way for how I would now approach my life. I branded myself creative. From this point on, I decided that I was going to be me – no matter how many people laughed at me.

Fast-forward 15 years and here I am graduating college.

It honestly feels like just yesterday I was moving into Cornerstone Hall on UNCW’s campus, a ‘fresh’ new student straight out of high school. When people say “time flies when you’re having fun,” they are referring to college. I cannot grasp the fact that in 10 days I will be a college graduate; time has definitely flown by. Before this semester began, I thought I had it all figured out, and that I was “ready” to graduate. However, I had it all wrong! My current feelings are similar to Peter Pan’s in that all I want to do is scream “I will not grow up! You cannot make me!” But, I realize that I am not Peter Pan and I do not live in Neverland; I am a Communication Studies student who is about to step foot into the real world. It may be scary, and I might not like it at first, but its life. I shouldn’t worry though – I am prepared for it. I have taken so many different classes at UNCW, have experienced so many different things, and have learned from all of them. I have dealt with my share of “crazy” roommates, the difficult realization that UNCW will never have a football team, and also a climate that is all but predictable. As I am about to graduate, I can honestly say that I am a better person after my time spent as a Seahawk. Although I am not 100% sure what I want to do with the rest of my life, I know that UNCW has prepared me for anything.

An excerpt from Robert Fulghum’s book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, is the list of things learned in kindergarten – with the insight I have gained over the past 15 years in parentheses:

  • Share everything. (but write your name on it, roommates sometimes steal from you!)
  • Play fair.
  • Don’t hit people. (it is against the law when you get older)
  • Put things back where you found them.
  • Clean up your own mess. (if you don’t, no one will)
  • Don’t take things that aren’t yours. (you will get caught)
  • Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
  • Wash your hands before you eat. (getting sick in college is not fun- your mom can’t make you soup!)
  • Flush.
  • Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. (but you should probably visit the Rec Center too)
  • Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
  • Take a nap every afternoon.
  • When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. (especially when you ‘go out’ downtown)
  • Be aware of wonder.
  • Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
  • And then, remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
  • The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm.
  • Think what a better world it would be if all – the whole world – had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put thing back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. And it is still true, no matter how old you are – when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Some things change and some things stay the same but in the end we all have to grow up. But for the next week and a half that I have left as a student, and for everyone else that has time left here, and for the future Seahawks – I suggest we listen to the lesson that Jay-Z and Alphaville live by and stay “Forever Young.”

— Jordan Hill