September
15 – Today we were introduced to the fundamentals of what this class will cover. We were told about different assignments that we are expected to complete, one of which is the journal I’m currently writing. The class is a pass/fail grade based on completion of assignments. One of the things emphasized was the importance of experience in education and vocational activities.
22 – If every class is like this, I feel like I’ll really enjoy coming, even if I do have to get up super early to be here. We were taught by Lane Williams today. He spoke about Journalism. Before changing schools, I was a Journalism major, so hearing him talk about all the awesome parts of this career made me kind of miss being in that major, but I’m pretty sure I’ll stick with public relations. He talked about all the different outlets of journalism and made a plug for I-Comm.
29 – John Thompson came today to tell us more about I-Comm, which Bro. Williams mentioned last week. I-Comm is a really unique program and opportunity we have as BYU-I students to get real-world experience in communications without having to take a semester off for an internship; we can take it along with our regular courseload.
October
6 – Talked about video production today, which was pretty interesting. There are a lot of different aspects to it then just shooting videos and several careers.
13 – Today, my faculty mentor Ward Hicks came in and taught us about the wonderful world of PR. I liked the video he showed on Taco Bell and their PR campaign with the satellite that re-entered earth and the target they set up for it. Public relations has a lot of aspects to it.
20 –
27 – Talked about visual communications today, and there is a lot of work that goes into it. I’m no artist, so a lot of what was talked about sounded really difficult, but really rewarding. The school is really helpful in that it helps students learn to use the full range of the Adobe Suite to make great visuals for different aspects of communication.
November
3 – Brother Cole taught us about ethics in communication today. Discussed were the effects of plagiarism and libel and copyright infringement. I learned that everything that is the original work of someone in a fixed tangible form is automatically copyrighted. However, you can’t copyright a fact or idea or a name. Then we watched a crazy video of a bunch of segments of Disney movies strung together to explain the laws of ethics.
10 – Lane Muranaka talked to us about interships and their importance. Much of his presentation had to do with the analogy he provided of a Japanese katana (sword) that he brought in. He talked about how it was forged and the difficulty that when into making such a proficient weapon. He also talked about how in Japanese, the word for opportunity literally means “to meet a crisis.” Employers care more about experience than schools and grades.
17 – My half-birthday. We talked about grad plans and the advising center. A lot of talking about the different websites and resources they offer. I went there later today and got tossed around between two different advisors until, 15 minutes after being “seen” and sitting down with an advisor, she printed me off a copy of the grad plan I already knew about and then sent me on my way.
