When I started at St. Norbert College, I came in as an undecided major. I was unsure of where I fit and what direction I wanted to take my studies. As I explored more classes and had my first communication course, mass communication, I knew it was going to be the right fit for me. Learning about how messages are sent and received from large mass mediums was something that I enjoyed learning about and peaked my interests when I decided from that class that this was the path for me to follow. Little did I know that there would be so much more that I would be exposed to in this field and so many new things to learn and continue to learn along the way.
As a student of Communication and Media Studies at St. Norbert College, I was taught to think critically, explore multiple points of view, and analyze messages that are communicated to audiences, whether they are large or small audiences. Through the courses that I have taken throughout my college career, I learned about the importance of understanding those messages in the different scenarios they arise, whether that be in mass communication settings or interpersonal ones. Specifically, as a student of the media studies aspect of the discipline I was exposed to messages in the mass communication realm of communication, learning how large mediums get their messages across to their broad, vast audiences. This included exploring the growing world of social media and how it can be used as a tool for mass communication. We additionally explored the critical and empirical approach to mass communication to better understand a holistic view of the things that can be studied when learning about mass communication.
I’ve been lucky to have gained experiences working in the communication field. I was able to intern for the college the spring semester of my junior year seeing how the college portrayed its message to many different audiences across its social media platforms. This experience was able to help me then gain a summer internship working for We Energies in the corporate communications department. Here I gained more experience learning how a large company gets its messages across to its large, broad audience across the state of Wisconsin. I learned more about what a role in media relations would be like and was able to continue this into my senior year of college where I helped at We Energies sister company Wisconsin Public Service in Green Bay. Here I was able to gain even more experience with media relations.
Upon Graduation, I hope to pursue a job working with social media or in a media relations role in the Milwaukee area. I believe that through my experiences as a social media intern for SNC, my internship in corporate communications working in media relations with We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, my independent study senior year at SNC, and my courses have prepared me for a job in this field and I look forward to beginning my career doing something I enjoy doing and that I will continue to learn about as I gain experience. I’m so thankful for the relationships I’ve made with all my communication professors. They all have gone above and beyond to not only help with studies in the classroom, but also with anything else that they could do to help us become successful. I am so happy that I chose this path year and that I came in undecided so I could find my way to something that has been enjoyable to learn about.
