I feel that this year has brought on a major case of senioritis along with a paralyzing fear about the years to come. While I am completely over getting up and going to class every day, (especially Biology, ugh! Dr. John always says Com majors are bad at math and science and in this particular case, he is 100% correct) I am nowhere near ready to attempt to enter the work world. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve come a long way and learned a lot at QU, but am I really ready to enter the real world? Will they still be kind when my writing stinks and offer advice or will they publicly butcher my writing? Who really wants to hire a Public Relations major? And most importantly, Do I really have to give up wearing sweatpants on a daily basis in exchange for professional dress?

I’ll be making an honest attempt to write more, detailing the stresses and adventure of the senior year of a COM major, and as always feel free to make comments, suggestions, and give me stuff to write about.

Also, try not to overload yourself, like taking 3 writing enriched courses at once, there is no way it’s worth it. Plus you can always fill your schedule with some fluff stuff. I personally highly recommend ceramics, as I am now the proud owner of several lumpy pots. Word of warning, don’t leave all your general liberal education requirements until the end otherwise you’ll end up in Bio your senior year. (Maybe that wouldn’t bother you, but, personally, I’m dreading the class as I haven’t taken any since my freshman year of highschool.)

As always, feel free to leave any suggestions, comments, questions, or ideas.

Spring break is approaching and this is one of the biggest times for mission trips here at QU. I know I’ve talked about it before, but it’s something I feel passionately about. This year QU has started at 50 States Service Project where they are trying to send students and alumni to all 50 states across the US.

 The QU website has a link that I highly encourage you to check out, as it is way more informed about the project than I am. So if you decided to come here as a COM major, look into being a COM major who serves others across the US and figure out what you can do for the community.

So here is my question for the day:  Do you always have to write for someone? I mean, I get that if you are writing as your job, and getting a paycheck, yes people must be interested, but sometimes, just sometimes, you could write for yourself.

Lets be honest, I try to write blogs that you are interested in, something that you want to read, but sometimes, I don’t have real interesting or exciting things to say. I’m a talkative girl, so I can ALWAYS say things, but meaningful things, that’s another story.  I’m always up for suggestions for my blog so if you think I can say anything meaningful, please let me know.

So if you are ever bored with my writing, or anyone else’s for the matter, remember that not everything is meaningful, and quite frankly, I’m okay with that.

So maybe the end of January is a little to late to start an article about the brand new year, but since this is my first post of the year, I’ll allow it. I could say my New Years Resolution was to write more, but then you would obviously see that I’m failing at my goals, so let’s pretend that it wasn’t.

I always wonder what you want to know about my life as a Communications student. As much my day-to-day schedule of sleep, shower, class, food, homework, work, food, sleep, is extremely thrilling, sometimes, I just don’t know what to share.  This semester classes have gotten in the way of my college life.  I know that maybe this is the way that college should be, that I should spend my time studying,  that I should go to all my classes. Needless to say, I feel a little bitter when I’m stuck in my apartment writing articles, working on press releases, and reading textbooks, while my friends are out at the bars.

The moral of the story, is that college life is harsh sometimes. Sometimes you actually have to work, and don’t just get to play.  Regardless of this fact, you will only get the chance to be an irresponsible college student once, so don’t squander that opportunity either. Finding a balance between the two, can be difficult, but it’s always a work in progress.

I feel like the holidays start earlier and earlier every year. I turned on the radio like 3 weeks ago and Christmas music was already playing. I mean, come on, it hadn’t even been thanksgiving yet. Give a girl a chance to pig out on turkey and pie before she even has to consider all the christmas cookies.

And now here comes the worst part of Christmas, this holiday which is supposed to be about Christ’s birth, the never-ending battle to get everyone exactly what present they want at the best deal possible. Everyone has their very specific Christmas needs and know exactly what they want, often times down to the brand model. It’s not like Mary made a wish list for Jesus specifically writing down, gold, frankincense, and myrrh he got what he was given.  I think this Christmas we all need to appreciate the friends and people we have in our lives a little bit more than the gifts we are about to receive.

Also, my christmas hint to all my teachers here. While I may  have just ranted about how I hate that Christmas comes early all the time, canceling one of these finals or a giant end of the year paper would be an excellent early Christmas present.

Granted, I’ve know about the giant papers I have to do in every class since the beginning of the semester and the excessive ammount of stress I have now is my own fault, but it still is pretty stressful. Being a COM student is kinda helpful in times like this because you are super used to writing a lot by now, and generally speaking, you’re pretty good at it too. That doesn’t change the fact that you probably don’t want to write an annotated bibliography on Communications Law and Ethics, but you know you can bust it out because, hey, you don’t really have a choice.

This time of year also means signing up for your classes for next semester, trying to get all the classes you need while still avoiding friday classes so you can have long weekends every week. Also, if you hate mornings, like myself, it means dreading the fact that one of your required classes next semester is at 8 AM. We still have to push the stress aside and focus on all the projects due soon.

So we will all be spending much more time in the library, more time getting late night snacks, and more time enjoying each other, because we don’t have much time left in the semester.

It really isn’t as complex as it sounds, being a good Franciscan simply means respecting others, yourself, and our environment.  Students live out Franciscan values on campus every day by being kind to others, picking up our campus, and doing service for others. QU has some great opportunities for service trips, and if you come here, I can not recommend anything more than going on a service trip.  The school offers many trips over all breaks so you can find one that works for you, and we also go to many locations so students are somewhat able to pick where they will do their service. My personal favorite is the trip that QU students go on every year over Fall 4 Day to St. Louis to work with the Franciscan Connection. Definitely check out this site, learn about the program, volunteer on your own, or donate to the cause. The project is run by the same province of friars that are present on our campus and its a great program.  One of the best ways to be a Franciscan is by being with Franciscans so give it a try.

As a communications student, you are required to have 3 credit hours of Falcon experience.  So while there are a lot of Com majors there at the meetings getting the great experience, there are plenty of other non-communication students who also write for the paper.   The program is great in the way that you can pick what you want to write about.  You can pick between news, opinion, sports, features or just write about what you want and they editors will find a place for it.

 As a com student you will have to write for the paper regardless, so it’s really best to embrace the situation. Pick subjects you are interested to write in, take photos for the paper, or help with layout.  You’ll meet a lot of older com students and you can really enjoy the experience. Plus it looks great on a resume! So grab a falcon next time you see one and give it a read, you could be writing for it soon!

As a communications student, you are going to write a lot in a lot of your classes.  It’s sometimes not the most fun in the world, but if you look past the writing something ridiculous on a fake story, you really are going to pick up a bunch of skills that you will use in real life.  Most of the stuff you do in class is applicable in a real life job situation, unlike that complex algebra and calculus.

I highly recommend that you actually get to know your teachers and don’t just sit silently in the back.  Everyone is great about answering questions and most are more than willing to hold discussions about topics that you aren’t understanding or you don’t necessarily agree with.  Plus, if you really are struggling with the class and you are on good terms with your teacher, they know this early on and they can help put you back on course.

Most of all enjoy your classes. Pick electives that you really like and in your required classes bring up relevent topics that you are interested in or want to learn more about.