By Amanda Edore
Since I added a second major in the School of Communications during my junior year, I had doubts about what opportunities and credibility I would have after graduating. I began my time at Montclair State University as a Performing Arts major with a passion for social media as a hobby; quickly, I realized I wanted to make more out of what once was just an interest. I began joining clubs and campus organizations where I held social media manager, content creation, and public relation chair roles.
Despite how enjoyable these extracurricular experiences were, my most valuable experience during my time as a communications student was without a doubt, working with the Hawk Communications student agency. The course was recommended to me by a friend that took it twice because as she explained, it was a great opportunity to learn about real-world public relations and strategic communication. Little did I know that what this course truly had to offer was concrete experience, networking possibilities, and several chances to grow as a professional. In only one semester, I worked closely with two clients, as a part of separate account teams comprised of driven individuals who helped me improve my skills as a leader and teammate.
Over the past four months, I learned how to be accountable while working on strict and sometimes short deadlines. I developed my skills as a leader, stepping into roles where I would manage weekly meetings and ad hoc projects. I learned how to better support my teammates by shadowing and supporting their roles, even when they were tasks I had little to no experience with. In my opinion, one of the greatest benefits of this agency was having the ability to try new skills with little risk of failure, due to the resources and guidance we received from Professor Green and our classmates.