What is COM Week really all about?
September 21-25 is COM WEEK 2009: Oh the places you’ll go with a COM degree. We host this event every fall semester in order to provide you with an opportunity to interact with alums who are willing to share their career and professional experiences with you. The year we’ve themed it around things you may not know about in terms of careers in communication, making it in the professional world, and how to develop strong applications for COM scholarships. The idea is that as you attend the workshops or luncheon and you get tips and strategies for how to use your communication degree in unique and exciting ways by people with COM degrees who know what it’s like out there. In other words, this week is all for YOU! We want to help you succeed with your COM degree. Here is the rundown of events for your calendar.
- Monday: Majors Showcase, Craig lobby, 10am-4pm
- Wednesday: Great Careers in Communication: Options you never knew existed. 3:00, Craig 205 hosted by Dr. Stephanie Norander with special student guests who will share with you cool internships they’ve had and job offers they’ve gotten.
- Thursday: Writing Your Way to the Top: Competitive Scholarship Applications to Get More Money! workshop, 6:00, Craig 204. Who doesn’t need a little more money in these times? This hands-on workshop will give you extremely helpful information to write competitive scholarship applications so you can get more money to help with school. Hear from alums and scholarship reviewers with their tips on good scholarships, application processes, etc.
- Friday: Alumni-Student Networking Luncheon, PSU East Ballroom 11:30am
Monday, Sept 21, talk a walk through our COM Showcase in Craig Hall Lobby. Learn about opportunities in Communication including majors, minors, and certificates we offer. Our student professional associations with have reps there to greet you and provide information about joining. We’ll also have information about graduate school as well as internships for credit. There are two workshops, Wednesday and Thursday. Each workshop provides a unique opportunity to get one-on-one contact with local alums about careers in COM and applying for scholarships. Each session is intended to be hands-on, a sort of training or workshop, to help you directly with developing career preparation. All workshops are free, but we request that you register. We want to keep these classes small so that you can get one-on-one interaction with the alum. You can register in Craig Hall, room 375 beginning Tuesday. We’ll have a registration form linked to the blog in a few days. You may register the day of the session too.
Then Friday, we host the Networking Luncheon from 11:30-1 in PSU Ballroom East. Here you will have the opportunity to sit with alums and get their tips and advice directly. The lunch is $10 cost, but you also get a COM WEEK shirt, which will be available next week. If you have a class that meets during one of the scheduled activities, you might ask your instructor about attending it as a whole class. If that’s not an option, then see about you attending and writing a short reflection on your experience with the master class or luncheon. It never hurts to ask.
Please make plans to attend at least one or two of these events. The department covers most all of cost of these events for you (except the lunch, and you get t-shirt too) and alums are providing their services free of charge, so DO take advantage of these great opportunities for YOU to get some tips and advice on making it in the “out there.”
Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll post more information about each session in a few days, and then this Friday, look for a post on planning for the networking luncheon, what to expect, and how to sign up for a mentoring group led by one of our alums.
Kelly