Fall Semester Students

Best advice: find group members that you will work well together! The client based project is a good project for students because it is much like a project that would be done in job outside of school. The best part of this class is working with different people to complete a final project. I enjoyed this class because I enjoyed being around my group members. Our group was able to have fun while getting our work done. When working with not only your group but the other groups, suggest ideas but be open to other ideas as well. It is important to meet all of the project deadlines and make sure that the other groups can rely on you and visa versa. If you can succeed in being reliable and easy-going but productive, you will do very well on the client based project!

Free STYLE

This week we have another free topic to choose for our blog.
I think my positive experience in this class this semester is a worthy topic. At the beginning of the course, I thought the class was going to be overwhelming with all the deadlines for projects. However, throughout the semester I was able to keep up with the projects for both my individual work and group work. Angie definitely made the class run smoothly and always had a positive attitude about any of the assignments. When a professor is approachable and easy going then that makes the class so much more enjoyable. I appreciate all the feedback and effort she put into each student. I also enjoyed coming to class everyday to talk to my group members. We were able to work together, get our work finished, and laughed through it all. I will definitely recommend this class and my professor to anyone!

Personalities for a Particular Job

The article mentioned several approaches of hiring employers depending on their personalities. Some of the ways sounded grueling but other ways did not sound so bad. I think the worst process for an employee was the process to get hired by Lindblad Expeditions. I understand that the people who work on the cruise company need to treat the customers well and have the best customer service, but the DVD sounds very intense. However, it does sound like a good idea to show the people applying for the job what they should expect so that they are not mislead. I think the neatest approach was done by the KaBoom company. The company makes products for children, and therefore, the people who work their need to be easy going and creative. A company like KaBoom does not want someone that is very formal and who can not relate to children. I think KaBoom would be an interesting place to check out, and it would be fun to see how they create the children's playgrounds. I think I would probably fit in a place that has a more easy going atmosphere rather than a more formal atmosphere.

The Advertising Business

I was reading the Shape and I found several advertisements that captured my attention.
The first article is an advertisement for Wheat Thins. The company directs the attention to women in efforts of promoting its snack. In the advertisement, A women is smiling looking off in the distance with several wheat thins in her hands, and the caption of the ad says
"A girl's gotta
dream
share
have a taste
defy
eat"
In addition at the bottom of the page, it says "Wheat Thins. The thin little crackers that are big on taste."
In the Dual Coding theory, it describes how the most effective system to use is both language and pictures. I feel that the magazine article is appealing to the eye, however it is nothing special. It does not really make me want to run to the store at this moment and buy some Wheat Thins.

As I continued to skim through the magazine, I found an advertisement for REI. It had an interesting approach to capture the readers. They directed their attention in this advertisement for both males and females. The backdrop is a beautiful nature scene with white capped mountains with greenery surrounding them, and also it includes a male and female running on a dirt path up the one of the mountains. The words on the page are descriptive and give an alternative outlet in place of a couple of minutes of speed dating. The slogan for REI is "Out is in." I think this is an effective ad that captures the audience's attention. As a reader of Shape, the companies want to attract people that love the outdoors and would like to adventure. I believe this advertisement adapts the Dual Coding Theory to the product that is being sold (which in this case is the actual REI company) more effectively than the previous ad for Wheat Thins.

Group Members

My group has been wonderful. We have worked well together and have completed all of the tasks smoothly up to this point. We only had communication problems once, and it was not a really big deal. I had volleyball practice in the evening and my group was going to meet right after it. The problem was that I had to get to the library at 7 but my practice at Fike got over at 7 . I figured that if I was a little late it would cause too much of a problem, but when I got there I couldn't find my group. I emailed everyone and apologized. Joel had computer issues and the rest of the group did not actually have the meeting when they saw I was not there. It was the day before the proposal was due, and luckily we were pretty much finished except for the conclusion. The next day in class we finished our conclusion and submitted our proposal. In the future, I am sure we will work a little better to communicate and fortunately this time it was not too important. I do not believe any other problems will occur in the future.
JenniGray, Joel, and Justin are all easygoing, but at the same time hardworking and determined. As a group we have a good time and laugh a lot while getting our work done. They have been wonderful group members, and I think it has been a great experience. I look forward to working with them for the rest of the semester.

News of the Week

Last night I found out some very good news. I have been going back and forth what I want to do when I graduate, and recently I have decided I will go to grad school and get a PhD in sports psychology (instead of the other direction which was physical therapy). I have talked to professors at Clemson about their suggestions for this narrow field, and they do not really know much about the sports psychology programs. I did not get much feedback or positive information from any of the professors which made me nervous. What if this is not a good field or career? I have thought about it alot lately and decided I'm going to stay on this track for graduate school.
Anyway, I was talking to my parents last night on the phone and they said they ran into my high school club volleyball coach (who also coaches at a college near my hometown) at dinner. They were talking about me, and my parents mentioned I was interested in sport psychology. She was so excited to find this out, and said that is exactly what they need for the athletes at that college. She basically told my parents when I finish school that she would hire me and/or help me find a job. WHAT A RELIEF! That made my week! It's good to know people care and want to help out :)

Interview Reflection

I had my interview with Angie on Wednesday, October 10. I have never been in a real interview, so this was a good learning experience. I did not know what to expect before going into the mock interview. Impromptu speeches are not one of my strengths. I was unsure of questions that would be asked to me during the interview, but I tried to think of some of my good and bad characteristics and past experiences to apply to possible questions.

The mock interview was a good opportunity for me to practice describing my strengths and weaknesses while applying it to a specific job or graduate program. I realize I said “um” before answering most of my questions. Before my next interview, I will try to review questions and practice in front of friends. My mock interview was brief, and I realize that a real interview will be more in depth and longer. I hope that I will be able to use this practice with Angie to improve my interview skills in the future