{"id":8724,"date":"2018-05-11T11:33:12","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T15:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=8724"},"modified":"2018-08-08T11:32:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T15:32:29","slug":"dear-class-of-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2018\/05\/11\/dear-class-of-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Class of 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Courtesy of redbubble.com<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a soon-to-be college graduate (I see you,\u00a0<\/span>May 4<\/span>, graduation day), I feel like I am entitled to pass on a few words of wisdom and advice to you upcoming seniors. These past four years have flown by (clich\u00e9 I know but true). Looking back on my college career, there are aspects I know I took full advantage of; however, I can\u2019t help but wonder if I would have done some things differently had I known what I know now. I think I would have benefited if someone had offered me a checklist of things to make the most of my four undergraduate years. So, here it is class of 2019. Get your pencils ready.<\/p>\n

Take the time to build relationships and grow your professional network<\/strong>
\nAs an undergraduate student, you have the opportunity to learn from some of the most experienced individuals in your field. The best part? These professionals are your professors and their job is literally to teach the skills you need to succeed. Don\u2019t be afraid to pick their brains. Attend office hours or guest lectures or strike up a conversation with one of your professors. All of them have connections in the \u201creal world\u201d and you never know when you might need a reference or letter of recommendation.<\/p>\n

Join pre-professional organizations<\/strong>
\nIf you have previously been involved with\u00a0PRSSA<\/a>\u00a0or another professional organization, great. Take advantage of your knowledge as an upperclassman and apply for a leadership role within the organization. If you are not already a member, don\u2019t feel like you can\u2019t get involved as a senior. You can still benefit and learn from being a part of the group.<\/p>\n

Learn from your peers<\/strong>
\nNext time you are in class, look around the room. Sitting next to you could be the future communications director for a global firm or the future press secretary for the White House. Use the opportunity to learn from your peers and grow as a PR professional. Don\u2019t be afraid to ask your classmates for advice or to listen to their ideas. I have learned that the best results come from group brainstorming and peer review.<\/p>\n

So class of 2019, with your checklist in hand, jump feet first into all the opportunities awaiting you in your final year of college.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Darsey Norton is a former writer and editor for Platform Magazine. She graduated with honors from The University of Alabama in May 2018 and plans to attend law school in the fall.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a soon-to-be college graduate (I see you,\u00a0May 4, graduation day), I feel like I am entitled to pass on a few words of wisdom and advice to you upcoming seniors. These past four years have flown by (clich\u00e9 I know but true). Looking back on my college career, there are aspects I know I took full advantage of; however, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":8725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1555,14,1],"tags":[1539,75,2845,165],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8726,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8724\/revisions\/8726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}