The Next Chapter of Life

I can’t decide if I’m really excited to be graduating this June or if I’m in denial about it.

The past three years of college have truly been the best years of my life. I know that sounds cliche, but I wouldn’t change anything I’ve experienced. From living in the dorms with my best friend to meeting so many wonderful people, I’m not sure if I’m ready to leave.. but I don’t really have a choice.

I did running start in High School, which gave me a literal running start when I transferred here to Central Washington University (CWU). At first I was a business major because I had to decide fresh out of high school what I wanted to do with my life, but it didn’t take long to realize where I truly belonged.

I’m not being biased, but I honestly believe that the communications department at CWU is the best on campus. The professors only want to set their students up for success and provide all the resources and knowledge they can to their students. The amount of friends that I will carry on when I graduate brings me joy knowing that switching to communications brought me to them.

So, what’s next? That is the scary question that I have been avoiding all year. To be quite honest, I’m not really sure what’s next. I’m twenty years old, and I will shortly have my degree in my hand. Do I want to travel? Do I want to work? The opportunities are endless.

What I do know is that I will not let my education go to waste. I have learned so much about the world in the past three years of being a communications major than I did my entire high school/community college career. What I enjoy most about my major is that I can really do anything I want. Whether I want to be a marketing specialist, a PR specialist, a communications director, etc, I have time to figure it out.

I don’t want to choose a career that makes me unhappy/miserable for the rest of my life and that is what scares me the most about graduating. I am ready to take on this next chapter of my life, and I’m going to make sure that with whatever I choose to do or where I choose to work, it’s because it makes me happy.

The Redbull Addiction of a Busy College Student

In high school, I was definitely a coffee drinker. Coffee to help me wake up, coffee to help me sleep, and everything in between. But once I got to college, I miraculously decided I was going to switch to energy drinks because I wanted a change (BIG MISTAKE).

 

My freshman year of college is where my Redbull addiction began. “Addiction” may sound extreme. I don’t consume multiple a day, but I do consume Redbull more days of the week than I am proud of.

Redbull gives me that little caffeine kick that I need when I feel like I’m about to hit a wall from juggling school, work, and all other aspects of life. And if you’re thinking “Well why haven’t you tried to find a healthy alternative?”.. TRUST ME I HAVE. I’ve tried teas, vitamins, nasty green juices, protein shakes, etc. but nothing compares.

It was not until this very moment of writing this blog that I researched why Redbull is bad for you. The high levels of caffeine and sugar can be extremely dangerous in the body and have been shown to stop the heart (SCARY). Not to mention, one 12 oz can which I consume often has 27 grams of sugar in it..

 

A November 2015 study found that after adults drank one 16 oz can of an energy drink, the average systolic blood pressure of the participants increased by 6.2%, while the average diastolic blood pressure increased by 6.8%.

Yikes. It’s almost painful for me to continue researching why Redbull is bad for you because now I feel like I need to check myself in to a hospital.

From last year to now, I have significantly cut down the amount of Redbull I consume but the amount I’m still drinking probably seems like a lot to the average person. My goal for this next year is to completely cut them out of my life so I don’t ruin my health forever but it’s going to take some time.

 

And just a reminder, Redbull does not give you actual wings.

Enough is Enough

In today’s society, having an opinion on anything can create a backlash bigger than you ever imagined. Regardless of what you believe in, I think it is safe to say that there is a problem here in America.

School shootings with fatalities in America date back to 1764 and continue to happen as the years go on. Being only 20 years old, the first big school shooting I can remember was the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999 resulting in the death of 13 innocent lives including students and teachers.

Following that, I can remember Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary, Marysville Pilchuck High School, and most recent Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. I know there have been several other school shootings in between, so why does it take more deaths of innocents…children..for people to notice there is a problem? Why do events like this happen and then weeks later people forget about it and move on with their life? The mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, don’t get to move on with their life so easily mourning the loss of their loved ones.

• 2018, 14 February – Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school shootings – (17 fatalities)
• 2014, October 24- Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting – (5 fatalities)
• 2012, December 14- Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings – (28 fatalities)
• 2007, 6 April – Virginia Tech massacre – (32 fatalities)
• 1999, 20 April – Columbine High School massacre – (13 fatalities)

Whether you are for, or against gun control, both sides have their valid arguments. But the point that keeps proving itself over and over is that these guns are falling in to the hands of people they don’t belong to and costing innocent people their chance at life.

Recently at my old community college, now Highline College, just had a huge scare on campus because students and teachers thought fireworks going off were gunshots. They were on lock-down for several hours and had to wait to be evacuated safely by the police. Is this what our society has come to? Everything we hear we assume the worst? That is what our world has come to because we can’t risk not being too prepared for anything.

 

Being a student myself, I am scared every single day walking on to campus. I walk through the student union and wonder if this is the place that someone is going to pull out a gun and start shooting. I walk through the parking lot to get to my car wondering if someone is following me or not. I look around and try to find things that may seem suspicious because I physically can’t not be scared of something like that happening. I can’t help but think, is my school next? Am I next?

Students are scared to go to school, parents are terrified of sending their children to school in fear they will not make it home, and teachers are anxious of going to work to do their job.

What is the solution to this? Is there one?

 

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

As a millennial who has been using Snapchat since it came out in 2012, I can honestly say I have never seen a bigger train wreck than the update that just came out a few days ago.

With every application comes updates, layout changes, new features, etc. But with the new update from Snapchat, I feel as if they have redesigned the content completely and I feel like I’m not using Snapchat anymore.

It has been in the news for sometime now that Snapchat has been falling below it’s IPO price that went public at $17 per share and has now been juggling between $13-$14.

On February 7, 2018, something miraculous happened for Snapchat. Their stock went up to $20.57, about a 48 percent increase…that’s HUGE.

Sure Snapchats stock went up, but did this put them at jeopardy to losing a large percentage of their users? As of 2017, Snapchat had 178 million daily users which averaged about 3 billion Snapchats being sent out everyday. After reading comments from the media, it is clear that Snapchat has already begun to lose their users.

Snapchat is the most popular digital camera application to millennials and the generation-Z in today’s world, but after the recent update, I’m afraid this is going to be the downfall of that reputation. All over social media, I have seen countless complaints and even comments such as “Well, Snapchat is ruined. Guess it’s time to go back to Facebook!”

What I found most shocking was this conversation below that a Twitter user had with the Snapchat Twitter account asking how many re-tweets it would take to bring back the old Snapchat. Although the response from Snapchat didn’t say they would change the layout, they still requested to get 50,000 re-tweets… this tweet went VIRAL. It is currently at 1.4 million re-tweets. If this isn’t a message for Snapchat, I don’t know what is.

It makes sense that Snapchat made a move that would benefit them financially, but I wish that didn’t require changing the entire layout of Snapchat that everyone knew and loved. Users loved how it looked before. It was easy to navigate, personal snaps and snap stories were separated, and the discover page was easily accessible. The format now is confusing, the snaps are out of order, and it seems almost impossible to find what you are looking for.

Snapchat has obviously felt the backlash and negativity of their new update, so what will they do now? Is the money increase worth losing your loyal users and possibly risking flushing the entire company down the toilet? I guess we will have to stay tuned and see.

The Never Ending Cycle

“Some things may be equally essential but nothing is more important than a healthy sense of self-esteem and loving yourself.” – Henrik Edberg

Life, the one thing we can’t avoid but always seems to get in the way. The never-ending cycle of work, school, balancing a social life, sleep, repeat. No matter how fast we run and hide from it, it always catches up to us. So why don’t we stop running? Why don’t we let life challenge us to prove that we are fully capable of doing anything we set our minds to.

As a college student myself, I face the daily struggles of trying to find time out of my schedule to take time for myself. Once I realized how badly I needed a break, I figured out ways to pick myself back up out of the stress slump and find time to do things that make me happy.

Plan your week – The best way to organize your week/schedule is to write it all down in a planner or on a piece of paper. By doing this, you will be able to find time slots to plan out things that will make you happy. Personally, I find this method to be very effective for not only free time but finding time to do homework and other activities as well.

What can you do to better yourself? – In this case, everyone is different on what they like to do to bring down their stress level. Some ideas to consider are going to the gym, practicing yoga, stopping by your favorite coffee shop for a cappuccino, taking a nap, playing a sport, anything you name it. The main point is to clear your mind for at least 30 minutes out of your day to relax. By doing this, you will notice an increase in your energy, a more positive mindset on your day, and a higher motivation drive to get all your tasks completed.

The most valuable thing I learned about myself in college was how important it is to put yourself first. Selfish? Absolutely not. You have to make yourself happy by making time to do things that you love if you ever expect to make anyone else happy in this world.

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

The Price You Pay to Party

In the last five years, 400 noise violations have been given out to Central Washington University (CWU) students. In Ellensburg, noise ordinance said that noise should not be heard from more than 50 feet away between the hours of 10 p.m to 7 a.m.

Although rates of noise violations have dropped 55 percent since 2012, students are still having issues with the way Ellensburg police handle certain situations.

In the article “Keep It Down Over There”, for The Observer, by Simone Corbett, she provides several personal stories from those who have dealt with a noise violation here in Ellensburg. The theme that I interpreted from this article was that students are getting fined a large amount of money without receiving a warning for their actions first.

As a student who falls within the percentage of those who have received a noise violation, I share a similar experience with not receiving a warning before being fined. This article provides good information about the legal facts that go about preventing a noise violation, and what will happen if you receive one.

Students from this article expressed that Central is a college town and people are going to party regardless of what is the law. From another perspective provided, Corbett expresses through another source that students aren’t understanding that noise violations are given out on compliant basis, not because the police feel like fining college students just because they can.

From my standpoint, I agree that the police are just doing their job and responding to an incident that was reported by someone for a complaint. But I do also agree that a warning should be given out first to those violating the rules to give them a chance to get things under control before receiving such a hefty fine of $500.

 

https://cwuobserver.com/10794/news/keep-it-down-over-there/

Biggest Sexual Abuse Scandal in Sports History

The Larry Nassar scandal is the biggest sexual abuse scandal in sports history.

The abuse was global. Nassar abused girls in London at the 2012 Olympics, at the Károlyi Ranch, USA Gymnastics’ training center in Texas, and at gymnastics meets in Rotterdam.

Larry Nassar has been accused of sexual abuse by more than 150 ex-patients, including famous female athletes Simone Biles and McKayla Maroney. It is very hard to grasp that something like this was swept under the carpet for this long while so many girls were suffering at the hand of someone that was supposed to be their doctor.

Shortly after the news was made public, three USA Gymnastics board of director’s executives resigned from their positions. On Jan. 24, Lou Anna Simon, the president of Michigan State University, where Nassar had been employed as a team doctor since 1997, announced her resignation.

USA Gymnastics released a statement as a response to the United States Olympic Committee that stated:

“USA Gymnastics supports the United States Olympic Committee’s letter and accepts the absolute need of the Olympic family to promote a safe environment for all of our athletes. We agree with the USOC’s statement that the interests of our athletes and clubs, and their sport, may be better served by moving forward with meaningful change within our organization, rather than decertification. USA Gymnastics supports an independent investigation that may shine light on how abuse of the proportion described so courageously by the survivors of Larry Nassar could have gone undetected for so long and embraces any necessary and appropriate changes. USA Gymnastics and the USOC have the same goal – making the sport of gymnastics, and others, as safe as possible for athletes to follow their dreams in a safe, positive and empowered environment.”

To me, sincerity is everything I look for in an apology or statement regarding something that went wrong. When I read this, I don’t get that vibe. And others may have other opinions, but I personally disagree because it doesn’t give any indication of what is going on and the specific action they will take to make sure it never happens again. It almost appears as if a lawyer or a robot wrote this rather than a person who felt sincerely affected by this issue.

Nassar has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for his crimes.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gymnastics-scandal-rangers-probe-alleged-abuse-karolyi-ranch-n842691

https://usagym.org/pages/post.html?PostID=21232&prog=h

 

Donating Life – Alagille Syndrome

45 percent of American adults are registered organ donors. It’s estimated that every day in the U.S., 21 patients die because of the lack of donor organs.

When I agreed to becoming an organ donor, I always just assumed that this would apply when I died. Being my young self when I agreed, I never imagined being in a situation where I would willingly give a part of my body to another human while being so young.

In April of 2017, my mindset on everything that entailed being an organ donor changed when I found out my best friend’s nephew, who feels like my own, was diagnosed with a rare liver disease called Alagille Syndrome.

Never heard of this? That’s probably because this disease is extremely rare. In fact, 1 in 70,000 newborns are affected by Alagille Syndrome. Alagille Syndrome (ALGS) is a condition affecting the liver, heart, spine, eye, face, kidneys and blood vessels that is caused by changes (mutations) in a gene called “JAGGED1”.

As months went by and the disease was visibly getting worse, the chances of Luke, who is currently 10 months old fighting every day, being moved up on the liver transplant list in a timely matter seemed slimmer and slimmer. After seeing everyone that loves him being denied a blood match to donate a piece of their liver, I decided it was time to get tested myself.

On December 29, I opened the test results from my doctor stating that I was O-Positive; the exact blood type that Luke is. I can’t describe the emotions that swept over me when I read that document. I was happy, scared, nervous, and everything in between. Although I felt overwhelmed with emotions, there was not one bone in my body that didn’t want to do this for him.

Watching someone you love, especially such a sweet baby boy, in so much pain not being able to do anything about it is a helpless feeling that I can’t put in words. But as I begin the medical testing next week to take the first steps in donating a piece of my liver, I can’t help but feel joy in knowing that I am going to potentially save someone’s life.

Luke is a fighter, and he is our superman. Everyday he fights for his life with a smile on his face. I think we can all find peace in knowing that someone who is so little and brave, can be so full of life.

I encourage everyone reading this to expand their mindset on what it truly means to be an organ donor. Sure you may have organ donor listed on your license, but do you truly know what you could be doing for someone like Luke? And if you decide not to be, that’s perfectly fine too. It’s your body, and your choice 100 percent. It is scary to think about, but the benefits of what you could be doing for someone trumps all the fears.

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/alagille-syndrome

https://www.bloodworksnw.org/

 

Adidas’ Boston Marathon Email Fail

April 15^th, 2013. A day America will never forget. Double bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three people and injured at least 264.

Over 30,000 participants in the race and thousands of bystanders cheering on their loved ones witnessed the horror and tragedy of something they never expected to happen.

Just days after the massacre, Adidas released and sold out their customized shirt that says, “Boston Stands as One” that gave all proceeds to the One Fund Boston, a charity to help the victims and those affected by the tragedy. This tactic not only brought positive attention to Adidas, but showed their sincere concern for the event. So, what went wrong just a few years later?

The day after this year’s marathon, just four years after the bombings at the 2013 marathon, Adidas released an email to Boston Marathon participants with the subject line, “Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!” YIKES.

What were they thinking? No matter how many years have passed since the massacre, it will always be a sensitive topic to speak about. It’s hard for me to believe that something like that could be sent without anyone thinking “Hmmm, that’s probably not the best way to word that.”

The backlash took no time to spread like wildfire all throughout social media. Adidas spokeswoman, Maria Culp, issued a public apology the same day stating, “We are incredibly sorry. There was no thought given to the insensitive email subject line we sent Tuesday. We deeply apologize for our mistake.”

It was a smart move by Adidas to quickly send out a sincere apology, but unfortunately this is something that won’t be lived down for a long time. Moral of the story, think before you hit send!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/23/the-biggest-pr-crises-of-2017/2/#53c6e8fb3d8a

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/adidas-boston-stands-as-one-shirt_n_3128633.html

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-marathon/2017/04/19/adidas-apologizes-for-insensitive-boston-marathon-marketing-e-mail

 

Brand It. Sell It.

How do you want to be seen? In Public Relations, this is a question that is tossed around every day. Your brand identity is the most valuable image presented to the world. Brand awareness is all about a consumer’s interest in recognizing a product that is presented by your firm/company.

My personal favorite brand because of their advertising is Coca-Cola. When I hear that brand name, or see it in stores, I always think of Christmas time and the polar bear/Santa commercials. When you hear “I’m Lovin It”, you automatically associate that with McDonalds. This is just another example of a way a company has branded themselves with a specific tactic.

Written by Lisa Strong, 5 Ways to Ensure Your Brand Sticks Out in A Crowd, talks about what PR professionals should do to make their brand unlike any other. Her five methods are customizing your message, responding to clients immediately, be curious and continue to learn, protect your relationships, and if you aren’t good at it, delegate.

Although I think all her strategies listed are important, customizing your message is by far the most valuable. In today’s world, everything is a competition. Brands are constantly trying to find new ways to stand out compared to their top competitors.

Strong writes, “Nothing sets a brand apart like having a unique item that embraces your brand.” McDonalds has their famous golden arches, and Nike has their trademark swoosh symbol to represent their image. In PR, you want the same popularity with your brand that allows buyers, clients, etc. to associate that specific item/jingle/photo with your company.

To have a successful brand image, it is important to be proactive in keeping clients interested. Observing your clients and target audience is a good indicator to identify what is working and what is not for whatever you are campaigning to the world.

Customizing your message to get people to distinguish a certain image with your brand is the key to your company’s success. You want people to know your brand and what it stands for the second they see it.

Subway, “Eat fresh.” McDonalds, “I’m Lovin It.” Nike, “Just do it.” Skittles, “Taste the rainbow.” These are just a few examples of successful companies that have branded their image. What will you do for your company to stand out?

https://www.prdaily.com/marketing/Articles/23558.aspx