Running Head: REFLECTIVE SELF ANALYSIS

Reflective Self Analysis

Ian Cherkes
COMM 46092
Dr. Rozell Duncan
Kent State University
August 4, 2016

REFLECTIVE SELF ANALYSIS

When I first relocated to Northeast Ohio from the Central Ohio area just six months after
graduating high school, I was in the midst of the largest transition I had ever experienced up to
that point in my life, without realizing the reality of it all. I had lived in four states, multiple
counties and 17 houses before my next adventure of settling down in Akron. The sense of
certainty I had acquired about my short term future and college plans dissolved in front of my
eyes within a few months of graduating high school and the family I knew was quickly being
pulled apart from its center in all directions. A strange twist of fate found me in Akron and I
knew I no longer had the guidance in my decision making that I so comfortably had in years
before. It was up to me and only me to make sure I could shake off my recent troubles and
refocus myself. That is when Kent State University became a large part of my life.
Attending a university was still an immediate goal of mine despite my sudden change of
surroundings. I had recently been accepted into Ohio State University. It was my childhood
dream to become a buckeye. That was no longer a practical reality so I had to shift gears. I met
a good friend who was in his freshman year at Kent State. He invited me to attend an
aeronautics class and spend the day with him on campus during the spring semester of 2006. I
loved the campus environment and atmosphere. It inspired me and made me apply for
enrollment immediately. I was accepted into the university and began the following semester of
fall 2006. I was focused and ready to become a Golden Flash!
Choosing a career path was still not something I was completely ready to commit to. As
happy as I was to be part of a beautiful university, I wasnt quite sure what I wanted from it. I
began to take liberal education requirements, getting a feel for what courses I enjoyed most and
what felt right for me. It wasnt until I experienced a course in the School of Communication
Studies that I really felt at home. Introduction to Communications with Lorie Hopp was just that

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course. The class fulfilled something in me that nearly three semesters of classes prior could not.
Lorie was great. She broke the ice right away and made an environment that was conducive for
everyone to be themselves and openly discuss ideas without unnecessary discretion. Although it
took a year and a half to feel comfortable declaring a major, I now felt completely at home
knowing there was a major for me that I did not have to simply settle on.
It is quite interesting what a higher education can bring to light about yourself that you
once knew in the past but didnt fully realize. I had always been quite the communicator. My
mother said I had a 200 word vocabulary before the age of one year. Drawing, recording my
thoughts, writing and playing music, pretending I was speaking and performing in front of others
were always part of my daily activities. I didnt realize they were necessarily all forms of
communication. They were just part of my identity. It wasnt until recently how much I realized
that it isnt necessarily the language, the art, or the music that I was interested in as much as it
was all those things being human expressions in the form of communication. No matter what
platform or outlet was to be used, I was and am inherently a communicator.
The greatest part of studying communications at a university level for me is the potential
for self-growth. I have always been a person who is interested in so many things that I can
become easily scatter brained and spread myself thin. One thing that I have always been certain
about is my deep connection to humanity. I realize that everything in life is based on the ways
we symbolize meaning and create a commonality, a community. This is in fact why the field of
communications is the right place for me. It is where all of my fields of interest can intersect and
allow me to learn in an environment that encourages unlimited self-growth.
High Impact Professional Speaking is one course that I admire most for self-growth. I
believe taking yourself out of your comfort zones is one of the greatest ways to learn not only

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about the world around you, but about yourself. Public speaking most definitely takes you out of
a comfort zone. Once you are comfortable speaking in front of large groups of people it
becomes one of the most empowering and influential experiences you can have, for yourself and
others. Not only must you be knowledgeable on the subject you are presenting to the public, you
have to reach inside of yourself and recognize the strengths and weaknesses you possess as a
speaker in order to create a meaningful impact upon others. I enjoy the freedom of choosing an
important, often controversial topic in which I can engage an audience and stimulate intellectual
discourse. Many issues of conflict and confusion come from understanding or lack thereof.
Passion is created through the subjective mind. Objectivity creates understanding from which
one can then effectively pursue the subjects within the audience. The highest form of public
speaking has a dual purpose of identifying the objective in order to understand the subjective.
This way the speaker gains knowledge of the topic being presented through their own research,
along with knowledge gained through the various individuals they are presenting the topic to.
You must understand the audience and all of its differing perspectives of the topic to create a
higher understanding and balance. The undertaking of speech preparation and presentation is a
powerful learning process for self-growth. The greatest public speakers create solutions through
this process.
The valuable skills I gained from High Impact Professional Speaking allowed me to
realize that I am in fact an effective public speaker. The course equipped me with the
appropriate training to polish my speeches into professional pieces of work that indeed had a
high impact upon the audience. One example, and favorite speeches of mine, was entitled The
Manufacturing of Scarcity: Green Capitalism.

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I wrote this speech during the rise of Green Capitalism. It was a time when
corporations were attempting to win over the hearts and minds of Americans with natural or
green products and lifestyles. While this was a progressive move in an excessive capitalist
society, and one that needed to take place for the sake of sustainable living, I was more interested
in explaining exactly why this movement was taking place from a corporate capitalist point of
view, so that people could understand how this could be a successful manifestation as opposed to
why the actual corporate intentions would only defeat its seemingly pure hearted purpose.
Simple economics tell us that a supply of certain resources have no value without a
demand. The demand is the need. Companies capitalized on the opportunity to instill an idea
into the minds of the masses. An idea meant to improve our lifestyles without sacrificing our
luxuries.
The first reason this idea, or any marketing ploy, is practical is because there is indeed a
need and therefore a demand for such action. The fast paced evolution of a global economic
society in the 20th century has no doubt raised awareness of the consequences of such rapid use
of our earths resources. This is the point of reference for Green Capitalism. Hence, the truth
that our society must come up with sustainable forms of living if we want to balance ourselves
with our inherent nature. The second reason this idea is so attractive is because it was not too far
out of line with the culture of the United States of America, at least in its corporate functioning.
Why not buy products that are less hazardous to the environment? Why not supply the
workforces of America with services that will require us to be more thoughtful and responsible
towards the future of our planet?
The reason why Green Capitalism came onto the scene with such a God like facade and
ultimately could not live up to its name is because of its paradoxical foundation. Capitalism does

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just that of capitalizing on the earths resources, without any consideration of preserving them
for future well-being. No amount of Green Capitalism will ever reverse the devastating effects
that capitalism has burdened humanity with. You cannot offer an alternative that masquerades as
a solution to environmental problems while continuing to make corporations rich due to faulty
economics and hoarding of resources. Green Capitalism is nothing more than a way to exploit
the truth of our current state without actually facing the underlying consequences of capitalism
itself.
I went on to explain that this movement was attempting to create sustainable ways of
living due to our excessive use of resources without realizing the economical functions that
disrupt a healthy global well-being. The evidence for reason in the speech came from examples
of how we have let greedy economics sell us short, creating a lack of responsibility in the use of
the abundant resources the earth has to offer. An impactful example I used was enough food is
produced daily for everyone on earth to have approximately four and a half pounds of food per
day, yet people go without and even starve.
The purpose of the speech was to provide insight into the misuse of plentiful resources
and the economical distribution, marketing, and capitalist greed that blinds a new progressive
world of its excessive, irresponsible practices and an old traditional world who suffers most from
the functions of capitalism. While scarcity is in fact a real possibility, it is often manufactured
because of capitalist economics.
Communication Studies introduced me to writing impactful, professional speeches that I
otherwise may not have ever experienced. I was unaware of just how much I enjoyed the
process of speech writing and presentation. It was like preparing for a big game coming up and
then going out and winning. Most enlightening for me about speaking to an audience is the

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freedom to choose a topic that is not easy to talk about. Challenging an audience to dive deep
into a controversial, even uncomfortable reality is very important to me and I am forever grateful
for having acquired effective skills to do so.
Other classes I thoroughly enjoyed during my time as an undergraduate at Kent State
include Criticism of Public Discourse and Political Thought. Criticism of Public Discourse
allowed me to take what I had learned from the process of creating and presenting public
speeches, to analyzing a number of great speeches throughout the history of America. The most
memorable speech is Black Power by Stokely Carmichael. It is exactly what the title implies,
powerful. Being that I was studying impactful speech as a student and he presented this speech
while he was a student inspired me that much more. It is the kind of speech and activism that I
feel is lacking from many universities today.
Political Thought may be my most memorable course because of the intellect and
intuition it demanded. Studying great philosophical works of the highest influence within history
of the political world is fascinating. From Machiavelli to Nietzsche, Sartre to Baudrillard, it
made me understand and expand upon the philosopher I am today. Philosophy is honest in
nature and often confused and misused in society and politics. I enjoy the freedom and
existentialism of the literature and speech I have studied in regards to the balance provided
through philosophical ideology, the love of wisdom.
My senior year at Kent State proved to be the most comfortable, yet most scattered. I
was confident in academia as well as my personal life. It was time to dive into my passion for
music and take what I had absorbed through my studies and experiences at Kent State and
manifest them into an art form I so strongly desired. I formed a band and began performing acts

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while networking at school and in the local community. My grades were at their best and I was
feeling the great potential of the future.
Archetype Entertainment was a student based company that was a branch of Got To
Believe Records, run by Cameron Horn, another Kent State undergraduate at the time. I was
introduced to both organizations through a course I was enjoying, Record Promotion II with
Eugene Shelton. I began working with Archetype Entertainment, promoting local musical acts,
selling tickets, and running merchandise tables at concerts. It was a busy schedule that somehow
fulfilled me entirely. I had my own band playing shows, worked a full time job at a restaurant,
was confident in my senior year with great grades, and was now helping a student based
company promote local artists.
The Practicum in Applied Communications was my final step to graduation. Being a
full-time student and working a full-time job through all of my years at Kent State presented the
challenge of focusing on a practicum while juggling multiple endeavors. While weighing my
options and applying for internships I found out that I was going to become a father. Everything
now became retrospective to what I now had to prepare myself for.
Nearly three years passed after the birth of my son before I was completely ready to
finish my college education. I was now a family man and had to make sure that there was a
strong foundation to continue to grow from collectively. I prioritized my familys well-being
and became comfortable at work, eventually being promoted into management. It was a time to
lead, and reevaluate how to lead myself. The time had come to complete my college degree.
An opportunity arose with Launch Local Inc. (LLI) at a Career Fair on the Kent campus.
I met Patty Scruci, the Human Resources Manager. She was very welcoming and pleasant,
making me very comfortable as I was reentering Kent States opportunities after being away for

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quite some time. Patty contacted me immediately and scheduled an interview. The interview
went well and I began my internship with the company on May 26, 2016. As a returning student
it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to get experience in an industry that was new to me and
use the communication skills I had acquired through my coursework.
LLI provided an internship for me to learn valuable business, marketing and
communication skills in a setting that challenged my comfort zones, work ethic, and
professionalism in the workplace. I gained real world experiences in marketing, sales, team
leadership, administrative duties, and public relations. I also worked on various projects creating
training and development materials, designed a brochure and multiple business cards, and wrote
a Mahoning Valley Scrappers press release and upcoming fall internships article for the
company.
At this point in my life I am very excited for the future and new opportunities. I will
have finished my Bachelors degree in Communications in August of 2016, which is an amazing
achievement to carry with me into my next journey. Right now I am being a great father,
managing a restaurant I feel is family, and very enthusiastic about starting a career in
communications. Becoming employed at a company that is creative, passionate, rewarding and
full of integrity is an immediate goal of mine. I have much to look forward to and be ambitious
about. Writing, public speaking, playing music, and pursuing plans to start my own business are
currently always on my mind. I am ready to embrace today and every day, the good, the bad, the
triumphs and the challenges, with open arms.