Sara Michael March 3, 2014 Reflection Paper saracmichael@blogspot.

com A popular song played every night at closing time in the Cannon Center my freshman year. The lyric ended with a simple phrase, every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end. As I am approaching graduation from this university, my thoughts are turned back to those very words I first heard years ago. Reflecting on the end of my undergraduate college experience, I am filled with gratitude and appreciation for what I consider the greatest growing period of my life thus far. I entered college without an idea of what I wanted to major in. I was excited to take American Heritage and knew that I wanted to avoid all science and math classes possible, and yet aside from those certainties, I felt a little directionless. Freshman year I was fortunate enough to make the best friends. I cannot reflect on college without acknowledging how much the people I met in the dorms changed me. Ive always known people are important to me; it is an aspect of public relations that resonated deeply with me from my first intro classes. Relationships matter, and in many ways all of my individual successes are actually the product of meaningful relationships in my life. The support of family and friends, professors and other leaders in my life has given me the courage to strive to accomplish my own life goals and objectives. I am grateful for that understanding and that this program continues to help me realize that people come first. I sometimes wonder how I became a public relations major. I can remember that it was completely random that I signed up to take my first communications class. I was about to begin the second semester of my sophomore year, and I still didnt know what I wanted

to major in. Late on registration night, I looked through different class options and stumbled across Comms 101. It sounded interesting to me, and the rest fell right into place. Not long into that class I knew I wanted to major in communications, and I began to take all the pre-requisite courses to apply to the PR program. Looking back, I feel the major was something I was unknowingly led to, I just didnt realize it at the time. For a long time I was not sure that I was really cut out to be a PR major. I can distinctly remember the computer literally froze during my case analysis, and that I had no idea how to answer the question about current PR news stories in my interview. Miraculously, the faculty decided to give me a chance and thus began the start of my time in the major. Well, almost I did decide to serve a mission the same semester I was accepted to the program. I planned to serve a mission since I was a young girl. While it was a little nerve-wracking to walk away from school for 18 months, I have no regrets. My mission became a crucial character building time in my college career. My mission humbled me, in every possible way. As a missionary I learned invaluable life lessons, and lessons that directly correlated to public relations. I learned the importance of messaging, of truly creating mutually beneficial relationships. In many ways I feel I learned the human aspects of public relations and came back to school to learn the strategy. My first semester back after serving a mission was brutal. My classes were tough, I was out of practice and busy. I was a full-time student, worked part-time and tried to have fun, sometimes. You could say I learned a lot about the importance of calendaring and budgeting that semester. I consider it the semester that I finally grew up and started acting like an adult. That semester I was not thrilled to be writing for the paper, but in life we all do things we dont always love, and I learned a lot from that experience. I also didnt love

that I did do my reading assignments before Dr. Wilsons class and still got a C on my quizzes, but I learned to not let a grade define me. I got through that semester and saw that I could do hard things and that I was starting to identify my strengths and weaknesses as a PR student. Those strengths and weaknesses became increasingly more evident my second semester in the program. My 421, 318 and MComm classes helped me identify not only what I was good at, but what I enjoyed about PR. I saw that I was a strong presenter, that my skills were best used in gathering research and understanding the problem at hand and the best publics to target to solve that problem. It was the first time my writing skills took a hit as far as grading goes, and that was a good thing for me. I learned that I had to pay more attention to grammar, and I could see my writing skills improved. That fall I decided to work as an intern at the New York Office of Public and International Relations for the Church. I will never forget that experience or what I learned in New York. New York is a unique and stimulating environment. There is something about walking the streets of that city that gives each step an extra pep and a boost of confidence. I learned so much from Ahmad Corbitt that semester. He is a talented man and gifted at building meaningful relationships. The office out there is not concerned with social media and press coverage, but with real relationships of trust. I marveled at the influential relationships the Church has in that important city. After that experience I knew it would be hard for me to return to Provo for my last semester, but I also knew that the time had come, that I needed to finish school and graduate. I have enjoyed my last semester in the program. In large part, I have enjoyed it because of the Marriott special projects team I am enrolled in. That class has taught me

more about how to apply the matrix than any other. I had become so accustomed to spending a semester developing a campaign but never having to implement my plan. There is a great difference in what you are willing to take on when you are the one actually doing those things. The Marriott class has helped me be more realistic, efficient and strategic. That said, I know I would not have been as well prepared for that course had I not first taken every other course in the major. Each course has built on the other in helping me grow in understanding and a strong skill set. I can see now how the matrix is to be used as a tool. The matrix is a tool to solve any problem, not just a public relations campaign. While I do not know if I will ever be interested in holding the title of a communications specialist in the work force or to what extent I want to be a public relations practitioner, I do know that I have learned valuable skills and a capacity to approach a problem and create a solution. The matrix is a matrix to life in the sense that it can help anyone approach any problem and logically reach a solution. Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end, and armed with the skills I have learned as a PR major at BYU, I am excited to see the new beginnings ahead.