Progressions

14 Stages of the PRSSA Member Life Cycle

1. You survived high school and were accepted to the college of your dreams. Exciting, right? Exciting is an understatement. Looking back on that moment, you’ve probably never felt more like Harry Potter in your life.

2. But then, reality sets in. You’re interested in pursuing public relations as a major and have no idea what public relations actually is.

3.  Lucky for you, your school has a PRSSA Chapter to help you out.

4. You go to your first meeting and probably sat in the back of the room, hoping to not draw attention to yourself.

5. However, you’re hooked and keep coming back.

When you come back to campus for sophomore year, you feel a little more confident. No more sitting in the back of the meeting for you! Not only are you an active member in PRSSA, but you’re going to the PRSSA National Conference.

6. You get to Conference and you can hardly contain yourself—you’re ready for whatever is thrown at you.

7. Suddenly, everything finally makes sense. You truly understand what public relations is, and your mind is blown. Especially since the whole “networking” thing kind of confuses you and you’ve never received so many business cards in your entire life.

8. You’re so motivated by everything you’ve learned that sophomore year flies by and before you know it, junior year has begun.

9. But you’re not ready. You have to find the PERFECT summer internship and you spend most of your free time looking for it.

10. The rest of your free time you spend complaining to your PRSSA buddies about how tired and exhausted you are.

11. And trying to wrap your head around everything you have to do for the Bateman Case Study Competition because you don’t even know where to start.

12. When you become a senior, the shock finally sets in. You can’t stay in PRSSA forever.

13. You have to start applying for jobs, which means filling out endless applications for hours and customizing your résumé and cover letters for each specific employer.

14. Admit it. You’re scared. But halfway through the year you realize that this isn’t the end—it’s just the beginning. Soon, you and your PRSSA friends will be even cooler PRSA friends.

Brittany Holland is a junior public relations and communications studies double major at Ohio Northern University. She has been an active member of PRSSA and ONU’s student ran PR firm, TrueNorth PR, since joining the program last spring. To check out more of Brittany’s blogging, visit her website at www.brittanyholland.net, or get in touch with her on Twitter @brittanyh0lland.