The Importance of staying motivated

I am about a year and a half into taking online classes through Franklin University. I learn more and more about responsibility and motivation after completing each class, this Public Relations class is no different.

Staying on top of due dates and assignments is critical to success and good grades in any class. Staying motivated has been very easy for this Public Relations class. I am very interested and passionate about everything i have learned so far in this class. It was very cool to apply the concepts we learned into my childhood school and hopefully i will someday be able to use some of my ideas to promote and good the word out about Legacy Christian School.

Online classes have definitely not been all easy experiences for me. I have run into difficult understanding some things and taking particular classes; eg Statistics. I did not think it would be possible to complete certain classes online due to the previous experience i have had in classroom settings. I know that from previous math classes, teacher student person experience proved to help me successfully understand and complete the classes with high grades. I am currently 10 weeks into Statistics, and still have a very good grade.

My point behind that example is that hard work, dedication, motivation, and a full time commitment will elad you to success and understanding if you set yourself up for success by completing assignments on time, taking advantage of the weekly study sessions and lectures, and asking questions all the time.

The importance of researching and analyzing your organization you are promoting.

Promoting anything requires background information. It requires a deep love and passion for whatever one wants to promote. Without this key piece, it’s hard to believe the promoter. Passion is a huge element in promoting anything.

Along with researching and figuring out key elements of the organization, product, or service, it is critical to know and be up to date with the Public Relations tools.

The most commonly used PR tools we learned about within this class were News Releases, “fact sheets” to provide more information about the organization, Public service announcements; which are broadcast on radio and TV airwaves.

There is also multiple forms of advertising such as; print ads, web based advertisements, bulletin boards, and flyers. Articles and editorials are used; along with other publications. If you are looking for more of the “inside scoop” of the organization, Annual Reports will give you a lot of details of the “nitty gritty” details of the organization.

Importance of group assignments and team work

Working in small teams is so beneficial and helps improve learning in the class setting. Especially in our group project with writing a newsletter/ newspaper for a community, you each bring something separate to the table, and also allow members to communicate different PR techniques and ideas to improve your overall project. Another benefit to working in groups is the opportunity to improve your own communication skills.

Personally, I love working in groups; I love seeing how other people think and work, and I love to merge different ideas together to incorporate a whole new idea, possibly even better than the one idea you thought of solo.

I usually am a little apprehensive when group assignments are on the schedule of a class. I have very negative experiences when it comes down to being in a team for group assignments in college. I love to get work done on time and talk with team members about different thoughts and ideas.

This last group assignment we had to complete with the newsletter was the best team assignment i have ever completed in college. My team members were on top of the ideas, brought a lot of different perspectives to the table, and we had numerous sessions to talk our ideas over with each other. Communication is key to success.

5 Weeks off- Week one

Well, this past weekend was the first of our 5 weekends we have off in the 2011 WMX series. We raced in Millville, MN on July 17. Before Millville was Hangtown, Freestone, Thunder Valley, and Red Bud. At Spring Creek my whole bike was rebuilt, and I'm going to be testing later on this week. This past week, i took completely off. I worked until Thursday, took some awesome gym classes, and took off Thursday night for Jacksonville, FL. I stayed with family friends for the weekend. It was the most incredible. relaxing weekend! I learned to surf on Friday, the water was so warm! I definitely swallowed over my portion of salt water though! On Saturday we went down to Titusville to go SKYDIVING! We jumped 18,000 feet. I definitely recommend it. It is the most indescribable feeling. The first 5 seconds when your arms are clasped to the sides of the plane and the initial jump owns the adrenaline feeling.. but once your airbourne, relaxation and a sense of peacefulness overcome your flight and its the most amazing 15 minutes of your life.. I cant wait until my next jump. My goal is to get certified to jump solo in the next couple of years. The weekend ended with a Mini Trip down to St Augustine, some rafting in a pool, and soaking in the Florida rays. I flew back into Chicago this morning and am back at work now. Maria and I are leaving for Loretta Lynn's Friday night, I'm going down to work for Arenacross next week. It will be my first year not racing and qualifying.. hopefully next year I'm able to do it again! With the WMX schedule, the races and regionals conflicted with each other. I'll update again soon :)

Linds