Hawk Communications was a class I first heard about through Professor Green, and I was interested in how he talked about it being a way to get real life work experience. I had no internship experience prior to this and this was the perfect opportunity for me to work with real clients.
The clients I worked with were the Garden State Wine Growers Association (GSWGA) and Loved and Lost. The skills I brought to my team were helping lead in some scenarios with team meetings, taking initiative for certain projects and planning and problem solving. Each client had different needs when it came to their social media platforms, and it was challenging to help solve their specific needs over just one semester. But as a team I found we gave them what they asked for and more.
In the class I also had to step out of my comfort zone and talk about things I had no experience with, such as learning how to navigate excel. As simple as that may seem, it was not something I learned prior to this class. Along with taking initiative and trying to figure out what is the next step when you are stuck on a problem, I was also creative when it came to making social media posts. I found taking on these tasks was the most fun trying to promote an upcoming event and being able to see my work recognized by others. Social media is not as easy as everyone may think and there is a lot of effort and time that goes into learning its nuances.
During my time working with Loved and Lost one of my proudest moments was reaching out to a local newspaper and getting an article about the project in the next newsletter. It was another thing that was out of my comfort zone of having to reach out to people and pitch a project and why it should be featured in their next newsletter. I had some successes this semester along with some challenges, however I believe this class helped me learn about so many more things and how I can work with future clients.
Being able to experience the real world before being thrown into full speed is definitely something worth trying. I find students will truly find their strengths and weaknesses within this class and I have learned things about myself. Eventually I hope to go into the field of public relations and event planning, and I found this class taught me about time management and learning to work around the clients’ needs. I would highly recommend this class to anyone who is unsure about the work they want to do in the future. This class explores many different areas with many different tasks that must be completed on deadline, which was a good learning experience.