career & advice
by Katie Assael
a note to incoming freshmen
published August 29, 2020
When I was entering my first year of college, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to major in. I felt like all my friends from high school were so sure what they wanted to do. I barely even knew what college I was going to pick, let alone what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I was so nervous, and I felt like high school didn’t give me enough chances to try out things and narrow down my career choice.
I could have put undeclared as my major when I first entered college, but something about that seemed even scarier to me than putting something random. I chose sociology as my major. Honestly, I picked this because I took a sociology class my senior year of high school and liked it because we didn’t really do much work and all my friends were in my class. When I started taking my first few sociology classes at UO, I quickly realized this wasn’t for me. There is absolutely nothing wrong with sociology, and I actually did find it interesting, I just knew I didn’t want to be in this field of work for the rest of my life. Sometime during my freshman year, I switched my major to FHS. This stands for Family and Human Services. I thought this would be a good fit for me because I love kids. During high school I worked in a daycare and I loved it. I worked with kids of all ages and it was so much fun. I loved my FHS classes and found them all super interesting. I began to realize, however, that I didn’t want this to be my career. I found a lot of the work to be very emotionally draining, and it takes a very special person to work with people in need.
I found myself stuck and didn’t understand why I couldn’t find a major that suited me. It wasn’t until I started taking some journalism classes. I started to really love those classes, and I loved it even more when I saw how many different branches of communications there are. Between broadcasting and sports journalism, to PR, or advertising, there are so many options to choose from. I didn’t feel limited to pick just one thing I liked. Finally, at the end of my sophomore year I declared the major. I started off with just being an advertising student because I found the creativity of advertising to be really fascinating. It wasn’t until my junior year, when I also decided to major in PR. Now I double major in both AD and PR and I love it! I think both sides are really interesting, and I plan to move to NYC to pursue a career in either PR or AD, or hopefully both!
My point is, it is okay not to have it all figured out right away. It is okay to change your major. Your path is different from your friends and your peers. Take your time to figure out what you really love to do. There is no rush to anything, as long as you truly enjoy what you do and it makes you happy, then that is all that matters.
Fueling Your Body and Mind
published July 31, 2020
Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is to start caring more about your physical and mental health. Self-care is so important for everyone, but especially for college students. Even though college is an amazing time to meet friends and have fun, the jam-packed schedule, social activities and career building can take a toll on your mental well-being.
Finding ways to self-care, whether that is baking, sleeping, watching movies, exercising or finding alone time, is extremely important.
A fun way to treat myself and take care of my well-being is by finding alternative recipes to some of my favorite foods. When I started high school, I learned that I had a gluten intolerance. This didn’t come as a surprise since my mom has celiacs disease. This transition was somewhat easy for me, since a lot of the food in our house was already gluten-free. However, I knew it was going to be hard when I got to college, especially because I love bread and pastries. Over the years I have found so many recipes that I love that taste exactly like my old favorite foods.
Since finding these old recipes, I found myself feeling overall much happier and healthier. I am going to share one of my absolute favorite recipes with you all. The famous chocolate muffins from Costco are a true fan-favorite. This alternative zucchini muffin recipe will absolutely blow your mind. I hope you try it out :)
a quick college hack for creative minds
published July 17, 2020
During all of my college years, I have yet to find a resource as helpful as Canva. Canva is a graphic design platform that allows users to create social media content, presentations, posters and additional marketing materials.
The site has millions of templates you can choose from. If you had to pay for one site, I would definitely say pay for Canva. I always impress people with the designs I make on Canva.
It really makes you feel like an artist without the canvas and brush ;)
If you are a communications or advertising student, Canva will be your best friend. I recently created an advertising campaign on why men should be encouraged to wear makeup if they want to. I made all of the designs on Canva-- and my professor loved it! My group and I received an A on our campaign, and it was something we were really proud of.
This summer, I have a marketing internship for a senior care agency in my hometown. My boss was really frustrated with the business cards and brochures that the company uses and kept wishing they had new ones that looked more professional. I voiced to him that I was interested in helping create a new design. I got to work designing new cards and brochures and did it all on Canva. Once I designed the materials, Canva allowed me to pick how I wanted it to be printed (i.e sizing, finishing and quantity). It is also a lot cheaper than other printing businesses. My boss was really impressed that you could even do this and now loves the new materials for his business.
If you are in the process of growing your design skills and want to play around with a new platform, try out Canva! Here are some of the things you can create on Canva:
Instagram posts
Facebook posts
Logos
Flyers
Posters
Presentations
Animations
Youtube thumbnails
Cards
Infographics
Videos
Blog Banners
Invitations
Pinterest
Resumes** (Makes your individual resume stand out and look so much cooler!)
T-shirts
Zoom backgrounds
Email headers
Linkedin Banners
Desktop wallpapers
Twitter posts
Postcards
Book covers
Menus
Letters
CD covers
Labels
Announcements
Certificates
Worksheets
Planners
The possibilities are so endless and can be used for anyone.
Tips for staying motivated in school
published July 2, 2020
As a college student myself, I know how hard it can be to stay focused when it comes to studying or cramming to do a last minute assignment. Let’s be honest, sometimes we wait until the last second to get our work done. Over my past three years as a college student, I found these tips to be the most help when studying for an important test or assignment.
Using a planner. A planner helps you keep all of your work organized and aligned. It is so helpful to schedule out when you should do certain assignments, but it is also helpful for personal events too. By putting all of your activities and school work in the same place, you can be sure to keep track of due dates, and spread out when you do your work to avoid cramming.
Making a list of your goals. At the beginning of each week, I find it helpful to write a list of small goals that I want to achieve at the end of that week. Sometimes I do this on Sunday nights or Monday mornings to help set my week straight. These goals don’t have to be huge tasks. They can be as simple as getting your laundry done or cooking a healthy dinner for yourself. Writing these goals in my planner so I can actually cross them off always feels good. It seems silly, but it shows that I accomplished something.
Setting time aside for yourself. I really should take my own advice with this one more. Whether it is hanging out with friends, working out, or cooking a nice meal, it is so crucial to give yourself that time to relax so you can succeed in the future. Everyone needs breaks, especially being a college student when your life revolves around school and studying.
Getting a change of scenery. Sometimes when I am studying for a long period of time in my room or at the library, it can be really draining. I find it helpful to get up and move to a new location. This allows me to breathe some fresh air. One example is going to a new coffee shop to study with friends. Even though that seems like it could be distracting, it is a fun way to try something new. Also, when you go with friends who are also studying, it helps motivate you to work on your own assignments. Then when you all need a little break, you can chat with one another and get a snack.
Listening to soft music. For the longest time I did not know how anyone could listen to music and get their work done at the same time. I really thought people were crazy!. Ever since I discovered some of my favorite softer playlists on Spotify, it has helped me tremendously. It makes studying and work so much more fun. Also, if you put the music on low in the background, it is still easy to concentrate on your work. Some of my favorite artists to listen to while studying are: Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Ruel, Hozier, Sam Smith, Finneas, Lennon Stella and Khalid.
I hope these tips help you stay focused and motivated! Due to COVID-19, some coffee shops or other activities we would normally do might not be safe or possible, so please don’t risk it and always wear a mask in public. However, the ideas here are the same: get creative, take care of yourself and always do your best!
Public Relations Tips From Journalists
published June 24, 2020
This summer, my goal is to better educate myself on the role and strategies of a Public Relations professional. During quarantine I have found that participating in webinars is a great remote way to learn from individuals in this field.
On June 9, I attended a webinar on traditional Public Relations pitching in a post-pandemic world. The panelists consisted of journalists from USA Today and Business Insider. The journalists were extremely generous and eager to provide useful advice. Here are the top 10 takeaways I had:
Engage with the world right now. Respond to the news and fight against racial injustices in your career. Bring diverse companies to the forefront and highlight melanated voices.
Be creative. Journalists receive tons of pitches each day, that is why it is easy for your story to get lost or deleted along the way. If you have a strong story or a great product you want the world to know about, tell someone, but be unique in how you tell it.
Talk to people. Be always prepared to tell your stories and use social media as a tool to do so.
Conduct a strong email. One of the most important parts of the pitch email is the subject line. The subject line should always be one sentence long. Journalists will read that subject line and try to picture it as the headline to their story. In the body of the email, the pitch should be told in five sentences. If it is longer, they most likely will not stay interested.
Components of a bad pitch: If the pitch isn’t relevant to what is going on in the world right now. If the pitch doesn’t align with what the journalist writes about. If it seems like you haven’t done your research.
Best time/day to send a pitch: It depends on the journalist and what kind of information they cover, but it all leads back to doing your research on everything before pitching a story.
Building relationships with journalists. Most journalists aren’t looking for someone to get drinks or lunch with anymore. They are busy, and so are you. The panelists mentioned that if you pitch a really good story to them, they might want to work closely with you on it so you can produce the best work possible together. Prepare for either scenario and be aware of the journalist’s needs.
Press releases: Each reporter uses press releases for different things. Some journalists do not prefer them. Others use them all the time and always refer back to the press release for any kind of facts about the company, issue, or product. The press release is where all information should be, easily understood and thoroughly explained.
Provide Information. If you send a pitch email, journalists might not respond right away, but it is always important to send an email rather than call to pitch a story because over the phone you might leave some information out. Journalists are also always looking through their email inboxes months later if they need a story that might be relevant to them then.
Final tips to the PR people: Always do your homework because when you pitch a story, it is your job to do the heavy lifting. PR professionals should look over their subject lines until they are perfect and send in strong writing. Finally, as stated already, it is so important to do your research on every aspect of a pitch before coming to someone to tell them about it. The pitch needs to be thought out, examined over and over and put together.
The University of Oregon does a great job at explaining pitching, but we don’t get to spend as much time on it as we may need. Learning from people on the other end of this exchange is key for us to better understand and prepare to enter this field. I strongly recommend when learning about Public Relations, to not only ask PR professionals but journalists as well for advice. These individuals read pitches every day and have a strong eye for quality work and successful stories.