Audrey's blog
Class of 2009, Graphic Design and Communication Major, from Door County, WI

Greetings Everyone!

O my goodness, I cannot believe that this is our last week of classes! What a bittersweet time of the year; not only are we getting ready for the warm, summer season (that I hope comes) and time away from classes, but we are also saying goodbye to another group of seniors. This tradition continues year after year, but yet it still seems to become harder and harder! Maybe this is because it means that I am one year closer to entering the real world!

In a related topic, I will be meeting someone of the "real world" who is in the field of graphic design. Mr. Mike McKenna, of the Karma Group, has agreed to meet with me on Tuesday the 29th! This is very exciting news, as I have never really had the opportunity to meet a "professional" in the graphic design business in a one-on-one context. While yes, all those who have been teaching me the ropes here at SNC have provided excellent and invaluable information, I know this meeting will be a great opportunity for a wide variety of reasons.

Originally, I was considering asking if the Karma Group accepts interns. However, since I have obtained the position as the Graphic Design Intern, I have a different idea (I also do not want to just show up and "ask" for a job, that would almost seem rude). I would like to ask him information on what it takes to be a successful member of the team in graphic design, what the different positions are, etc. He is willing to meet with me at the company location, which is going to be so exciting! I have never been at a design company before, only seen them in videos! It will be so rewarding to see what the working environment can look like!

In our business and professional speaking class, we were given an assignment in the beginning of the semester to meet with individuals who work in the field/profession we hope to enter after we graduate. Meeting with Mr. McKenna will provide me with the opportunity to learn, just outside the classroom. That was the entire purpose of the assignment, I am just taking it past the assignment requirements. I hope that everyone tries to do that in some way. Not only will they have the chance to meet new people and make new friends/acquaintances, but they will also get their name out there and establish "networks."

Unfortunately, I do not like how that works. We have all heard the saying, "it is not what you know, it is who you know." It just makes me feel that all the hard work that we do seems to be worth nothing unless we have the proper social skills. It is rather discouraging the more I think of it. What if the people we are meeting are only talking to us to get something they want, not a new companionship?

Either way, I know that we all have the opportunity to do great things, whether it is because we know great people, or we know great information. Either way, this sums up with, I wish all seniors who are graduating, the best in their futures. Not only that, but the best to all students here. I have only been able to meet a small number of you out there, but I feel I have felt an impact from everyone in some shape or form, and I thank you for it; for you all have helped to shape my college experience so far. I am looking forward to the final year to come.

Best of luck with exams, final projects, papers, presentations, etc! Remember to just breathe, sometimes we forget to do that!

Take care!

As Always,

Audrey

Greetings Everyone!

I hope that you are all having a great couple of weeks, despite the crummy weather that we are having. I swear, it is this weather alone that really makes it hard to want to get anything done.. Thankfully, the coming weeks are supposed to get a lot nicer out. (Let's hope so at least!)

I am sure that we are all in the same seats right now in that we are all starting to get spring fever, but have to keep it contained because there is a lot of work ahead of us. Finals are coming a lot sooner than I thought that they would, although I have to brag just a little bit in that I only will have one final exam. The best part is that it will be on the Monday of exam week, so it is smooth sailing from there!! YAY!! But don't get me wrong, I have quite a few projects, tests, and a final presentation to prepare beforehand.

The 100 Men Who Cook Appreciation Dinner was GREAT! The meal tasted phenomenal (I ate so much)! But besides that, we had some really positive results. Not only did more people come than we had anticipated, we also had some supportive feedback. Thankfully, the chefs are open to new ideas and new procedures for upcoming years in the 100 Men Who Cook Event. Everything went very smoothly and everyone was very friendly! Just a THANK YOU to anyone who is reading this that had any part in the dinner! I can't express enough how great everything was and it could not have been done without the support of others.

Just to keep you all updated, the interview that I had for the graphic design internship went really well. For those of you graphic design and fine art majors, make sure you rehearse a couple of things. The interviewer will ask you questions about your work, why you did it, how you came up with your ideas and so on. They also often ask "Where do you usually get your inspiration?". This is kind of a tough question to answer, but it is something that we should all know. Where do we get our ideas from and why do we think it is from those places, things, etc. Needless to say, I have the position. I will be working in that position this summer and through next year! I have heard a lot of things about the position, that it is challenging and ultimately very rewarding. GREAT! I like a good challenge that makes you feel good when you are done with it!

Along with that, I also applied to be a TRIPS Leader for the upcoming year. I applied for the L'Arche Community, which is in Iowa. It is a faith-based community that focuses on Developmental Disabilities. I am excited to not only make a difference there, but also to learn from them as well. I have heard so many great things about the TRIPS program, and I can't wait to experience them all. I can't wait to begin working with fellow members to get ready for our trip!

It is amazing that even though this academic year is winding down, I feel as if I am starting so many new things! (I think that is a good thing...)

I wish you all the best in your upcoming days of class, work, homework, and everything else that happens in your future days!!

Talk to you soon!

Audrey

Hello all, and welcome back to campus! I hope that you all had a great first week back and that you also had a very enjoyable weekend! It was (and is continuing) to be so nice out, that it is making me not want to do ANYTHING!

So, Thursday came and went, along with my test! I have no clue how well I did, but I certainly do not feel as comfortable with it as I did the first one. There was a lot more information, some of it relating back to previous chapters, but much of it new. It is all really interesting but because there is so much of it, and many of the "terms" have similar names, so I get them really confused! I don't know about any of you other communication majors, but much of the information that I learn in class I end up applying to "daily life." I can't decide on whether or not that is a good thing. For example, right now we are discussing family communication and how it relates with conflict. I notice that my mom and I have different conflict styles in comparison to how my dad and I conflict. Sometimes I will analyze it so much to the extent that it makes my mom crazy! (So to all of you communication professors out there, know your lessons are working and definitely sticking with me!)

So it is so great to know that advisement is on Tuesday! Just because we had a break, it doesn't mean that I couldn't use another day off from classes. It works out perfectly in that I will have an interview for a graphic design internship position for the LSI office on Tuesday! I am really nervous, but really excited at the same time! I wish I knew how many others were applying for the same position...

The appreciation dinner will be this Thursday! I am so excited, we have 13 chefs attending the dinner (which is a lot more people than we expected!) It is really exciting because everything seems to be in place. We have the meal planned out with very cool decoration scheme. There will be black tablecloths with white napkins. The center pieces will be different cooking utensils and silver tulle and the old aprons! They look pretty neat so far, I just hope that they will hold up for the entire evening!

I will be sure to let you know how the dinner goes and the interview as well!!

Have a wonderful Sunday and a great week!

Audrey

Greetings Everyone, and HAPPY SRPING BREAK TO ALL!!

Geez, what do I think that I am doing, writing and doing all kinds of school-work when I am on Spring Break!!? The last thing that I should be doing is something that is school related, and yet here I am. Not only am I chilling here (literally) in good 'ol Door County, Wisconsin, while fellow student classmates are soaking up the warm, Florida weather, I will have you know that I also just finished a study guide for my test in Family Communication next Thursday. So much for relaxation.

Okay, so a lot has happened since my last blog, and I apologize for taking so long to catch up!! To be quite honest, a lot has gone on and these have been the past couple weeks from "H-E- Double Hockey Sticks!" (With no intention to the hockey team, who has been doing really well! GO KNIGHTS) As it turns out, one of my best friends just lost her dad to cancer. He has been battling it for 8 years. I guess that we have been so used to him making this fight, that we always thought he would be here with us, but as it turns out God called him home. It makes me so glad that everything fell into place that it lets me be here with her and her family without the pressures of class and work and daily life. There is one thing about all of my friends from home here, each of our parents were parents to the rest of us. We called them all mom and dad, and they certainly regarded us as their own children, which makes it even harder. It hurts all the more knowing that there are many people around the world fighting the same battle.

And that is enough of that... I should probably move on so as not to make everyone feel so down in the dumps, and it is not helping me....

The presentation went really well, and it should have considering all the time I put into it. If you were wondering, the theme had nothing to do with my art major and thus, nothing to do with Paul Rand. I ended up changing my topic to information on "Effective Communication in Regards to Disability Awareness and Education." I have yet to get the grade back for it, but I feel like I did really well (plus I had a lot of fun with it because it is a very important topic to me!) For those of you who do not know, I had a sister pass away 8 years ago; she had Cerebral Palsy. Her name was Tiffany, and you may find me talk about her from time to time as we continue our "conversational blog" together.

The tests that I had way back when went really well, along with the resume and cover letter! Nothing lower than an AB!! Hip Hip Hooray!! I am sure that we can all agree that the preparation and anticipation for huge assignments and tests are really nerve-wracking, but when the positive results come back, it is all worth it in the end!! I am going to be preparing for my next presentation, which will be in two weeks on this Friday! The theme is going to be on "The Benefits of Going Green!" I am really excited about this one!

Also, last Thursday, for our Advertising Design class, we presented packaging designs. The purpose of the project was to create a new package for a pre-existing product or a ficitonal one. I redesigned the package for the Barbie doll! It is "Barbie in a Bag" and looks pretty quarky!! I wish I could tag pictures, but it is definitely something you have to see in real life to get the full effect. (Needless to say it was something that I had a great time with!)

As for 100 Men Who Cook.. for those of you who don't already know, we are not having 100 Men Who Cook this year. Unfortunately, there have been some new guidelines that need to be taken into consideration for the event that would not have been able to be effectively carried out for this year! Instead, we are hosting a 100 Men Who Cook Appreciation Dinner for all the past chefs! We are going to recognize all of their efforts and hard work that have gone into the event and ultimately, the TRIPS program for the past 9 years. It is something that we (the committee and I) are working extremely hard on, so it is in my hopes that it is a huge success and that everyone looks forward to it!! We have all the letters and invitations sent out to the guests! The dinner is planned for Thursday, April 3rd. (It is coming up so fast!) The meal is going to be so good that it makes me hungry just thinking about it!!

Speaking of TRIPS, I applied for a TRIPS leader position for next year!! I can't wait for the interview, hope they accept me!!

Well, I think that it is time for me to head to bed.. I hope you all have a wonderful remainder to your break and that you are getting ready for spring as much as I am!!

As Always,

Audrey

First of all, I have to note how beautiful it is outside!! This certainly creates a lighter mood, no matter how much work needs to get done!

Whew!! What a busy couple of weeks it has been! So let me see, where did we leave off last time...

PORTFOLIO:

So I met with Father Neilson and received a great deal of information from Professor Pirman in regards to what needs to be done to create a portfolio! Since I had never made one before, it was definitley 'overwhelming' in the sense that I want to do it right! I have a tendency to want to do things right the first time, which is nearly impossible to do!! That is a really good way to stress myself out!!

For this portfolio, I am going to create it electronically, which means that all of my work, application and resume will be placed onto a cd so that my employer will just look at it on the computer. This is really nice considering I won't have to pay to make prints or for a portfolio case! The application/portfolio is due this Friday for the Graphic Design Intern position at the LSI office. I will be handing it in on Wednesday, just to make sure that I am not waiting until the last minute to get it done!!

I am also deciding whether or not I want to continue my education after St. Norbert College. It is a really hard decision right now considering I don't even know what kind of professional career I want to pursue. I guess going to school after SNC would give me more time to figure that out, but the idea of doing more homework is kind of a setback. I think that is something that I really need to discuss more with my advisor and my parents.

CLASS:

Last week was CRZAY!! I had two tests (Business and Prof. Speaking and Family Comm), which really doesn't sound too bad, but they were Wednesday and Thursday and we didn't get a study guide to follow! AAHH!! I started studying for each test like 1 1/2 weeks before! I know it sounds ridiculous, but I should warn you all right away that I try very hard to do many things long before the due date. I feel that this way I don't wait until the last minute and panic! I will admit though, that I really like not having a study guide to follow in order to prepare for the tests. Granted, I ended up covering more information than what I was tested on, but I find I learn A LOT MORE!

Also for Business and Professional Speaking, we handed in a resume and cover letter Friday! It was great practice for when I apply for a professional position in the future! We are now getting ready to prepare 8-10 minute presentations that relates to our major/minor. As a graphic design major, I am going to present information on Paul Rand, one of my favorite graphic designers! So far this class has provided me with a great deal of invaluable information that can all be applied to life after college! I think students should be required to take that class, especially since they are taught to fashion a 'notable' resume. If not, definitely take advantage of all the advice that is offered by Career Services, everyone there is so nice and very supportive of all student endeavors!

Well, that is pretty much the update on me lately. The majority of my time has gone towards schoolwork and work at the LSI office! Next time I will be sure to give you an update on what is happening with 100 Men Who Cook and current art projects for Ad. Design and Clay and Metals!

Thank you for checking in on my blog! Hope you had a relaxing weekend and are ready for the week, enjoy the sun!