Erin’s Blog

I am graduating college in one month.  After 15 and a half years, 6 schools and numerous teachers I have no more school to attend.  While I am thrilled to see my life change, I am terrified of what I will encounter, what I will be doing and where I might end up.

I will finally leave my home, Auburn, for the first time since the first grade.  While I have visited other places of course, I haven’t lived anywhere else since I was 5 years old.  What will I encounter?  Where will I live?  Am I ready for all that independence?

While I know that I have been taught what I need to know to succeed, am I ready to leave the guidance that my teachers have given me for so long?  Am I ready to leave all the help and support that my parents have given me?  I know that they will all still be there when I need them, but it will no longer be the same.

I know that I am ready.  I know that I have the skills I need to succeed.  I know that I will one day be a great employee for a company.  I just feel a bit scared about it all.

Is it normal for a 21 year old to be afraid of what is to come?  Is it normal for me to be sad to be leaving my university?  Is it normal for me to wish I had just one more semester?

While I know it is silly, I know that all of those concerns are on the minds of all of the graduating seniors.  We all know that when we walk that stage in 33 days, we are walking into our new lives.  We will be starting fresh yet again.

I feel like I have only been in college a short time.  It feels like yesterday that I took my first college class.  And yet, as fast as it began, it all comes to an end.

I want to be sad, knowing I am leaving behind a lot of friends and a lot of fun.  But while I am leaving behind those things, I am taking fond memories away with me.  I am taking all the lessons learned and using those to shape my life.  I want to be sad, but I know that this is only the start to a great future.  A future full of new challenges, new obstacles, new celebrations and new opportunities.

While my college days may be over, my journey had just begun.  I will find a great job, I will help a great company do wonderful things.

On December 19, I will not be sad, I will be proud.  I will look into the faces of my mother and father and know that I have done something great.  I will know that I am ready and I will be just fine.

Facebook, a word, a site, that everyone seems to recognize.  From junior high students to establish professional, you can find almost anyone on facebook.  MySpace, another networking site, one that attracts different people yet still has great diversity.    While I am one of the many students you can find on one of these sites (facebook), I have recently found myself questioning these social sites.

I know that networking is so important, but this kind of networking is different.  These sites allow you to network with people that you see on a daily basis.  While most people are “facebook friends” with people in other schools, the vast majority of “friends” are in your specific school or workplace.  While it is great to have an informal way to talk to friends, it can also be a danger.

I often times log onto facebook to find status updates that give me a specific location and time to find someone.  I can sign on at any time and see at least one friend saying something like “David is at Wal-Mart.”  While it may be nice to know where people are sometimes, it can also be a danger.  A lot of facebook and MySpace users have not set their profiles to a safe privacy level.  There are some accounts that anyone can look at and be updated on.  While a status may be fun to update, it is also a great way to let a stranger know your location.

Maybe I am just one of those people who are extremely cautious.  I don’t travel alone, especially at night, I keep doors locked, I don’t update my status to let people know where I am and I definitely have my facebook account set so only specific people can see.  I have done this all for some time now.

After the whole incident with Lauren Burk last spring, I thought that Auburn students would be more careful.  I thought that girls especially would be smart about how and when they do certain things, but sadly it didn’t seem to faze some.  I drive at night sometimes and see girls running alone down dark streets.  I get on facebook and find all sorts of information that could be viewed by anyone.

I don’t doubt that everyone remembers what happened that day to Lauren, and I doubt that they are trying to be so unsafe, but it’s the little things that people forget.  Facebook is a popular website.  Everyone seems to be on it.  Private information like residence and cell number are often times posted.  This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if only your “facebook friends” could see it, but that is often times not the case.

Sites like facebook are meant to be fun.  They are meant to help people keep contact with friends and classmates that they don’t see all the time.  It was meant to be a way to share information and updates about life.  It was not supposed to endanger those who use them.  I just wish that everyone paid a little more attention to the things they put out on the World Wide Web.  I wish that they would protect themselves by increasing the privacy function on their page.  There are a lot of bad people out in the world, prowling on those who let them.  It’s a dangerous world, but we can try to make it safer by first protecting ourselves.

With the 2008 election just two days away, I find myself thinking that this election did not come soon enough.  Maybe it is just the fact that I am finally able to vote and am paying more attention to the news in regard to the election, or maybe its just that I finally am understanding all of the intensity of the election, whatever the reason, I’m tired of it all.

I know that this election is particularly important considering the economy and the War in Iraq, but I feel that some people have lost sight of the election and have now just become rude to other people who do not agree with their specific view.  I feel as if this particular election has brought out the bad in people, republicans and democrats alike..  They get all worked up and argue, listening to no one other than themselves.  They get worked up enough so that they even seem to lose sight of why they are arguing in the first place and begin to just talk and cut down others.

It is not that I just don’t want anyone to not care about the election, I simply just wish people would calm down just slightly. Everyone seems to get so overworked about it all. It gets to a specific level where points are not coming across correctly.  The people are so wound up that they can’t even voice their opinions in a clear and concise way.  Don’t get me wrong, I think people should be passionate about the election, but I also think that there is such thing as being overly passionate. I think there is a there is a fine line between supporting a candidate and being a complete pompous jerk to people about their candidate.

If I have learned one important thing in my life it would be to respect others.  With this in mind I find myself questioning those who just forget the importance of respect.  I feel that if a person really wants to make a point, they need to approach situations a little less hostile and respect those that they are talking to. People immediately shut down, stop listening, and go on the defense when people are rude to them. It’s a fact of life. People are now at the point of being rude and have lost their ability to change minds or even make a point because of that disrespect.

While some may find my views apathetic, I completely disagree.  I care who wins this next election, I have a particular candidate that I am supporting and I even talk politics with people.  However, I don’t feel the need to be one of those hostile individuals. I will do my campaigning in a different way, one less hostile.

People have become so serious about the election and act as if there can be no humor (unless of course they are watching Saturday Night Live). The whole election and the election coverage is a huge deal, but I highly doubt that when the first thoughts of the election came about in our country, that they were hoping voters would become hostile, hateful, and mean.

Dear Auburn University Board of Trustees,

I find that as a part of the student body, I need to state my opinion on one of your recent decisions to drop the name of James E. Foy on the new student union building.

I find that your decision to ask for a donor to donate $25 million dollars to the university in order to have their name on the building is absurd.  The mere request is an embarrassment to our university.  We are a university built on tradition.  We stand beside those who love Auburn and work hard for the betterment of those at Auburn.  Dean Foy was that man.  He worked hard for the students and was one of the most influential men at Auburn during his time.

I feel that by refusing to put his name on the student center, you have disrespected all of the work that he did to better this university.  It is even more heinous that the old student union will be torn down.  Should that building be torn down, and the new building not hold Dean Foy’s name, then how will he be honored.

When I was a freshman I remember asking why Foy Student Union was named Foy Student Union.  When my camp counselor gave me the answer, I was in awe of his work for Auburn and for what that building stands for.  And now, you are going to keep future students from hearing his good work and honoring him daily by using his building as a hangout, a study place, a place to meet or anything else.

I feel that you have just slapped every student, parent and alumni that gave money to this university straight across the face by ignoring our hopes to see OUR student building become OUR Foy student union.  There have been numerous alumni from decades ago that are pleading with you to keep Dean Foy’s name alive.  By ignoring their requests, you have possibly shrunken the amount of donors you may have in the future.

When the idea of a new student was brought up, and students were asked if they wanted their tuition raised in order to have a new student union, student said yes.  However, they also said they wanted the name of the building to remain the same.  They helped pay for the new student union, so shouldn’t they have a say in the naming of it.  I’m not positive about how much of student’s tuition was designated to the construction of this building, but don’t you think that they gave enough to get a say?

Finally, this university would not be a functioning university without the students.  You need students to come to the school in order to have a university.  You need students to pay tuition in order to have money to work with.  Maybe students should get a little more respect that what you have shown them.

While the building may one day be named something else, please understand that you are shaping the future of Auburn by requesting the money.  You are taking our traditions, or pride and our dedication and turning into strictly financial gain.  It’s not always about the money for everyone, and it shouldn’t be for you either.  Some things are sacred in Auburn, lets not stomp out those things.  Please take that into consideration.

As a student and a local to Auburn, I find myself getting more and more perturbed by the construction that the university and the city have been doing.  Most recently, it’s been the university more so than the city.

The most recent construction done by Auburn started this week.  The concourse, our main walkway to almost every building on campus has officially been closed for a month.  While they did take into consideration, the students, faculty in staff by not closing the entire concourse, they did close a main portion.

There are just a few things I really can’t understand about it all. For starters, why exactly is doing construction on a main walkway when every student is enrolled in classes a good idea?  The university had all summer when most of the Auburn University family was not in attendance to tear up this walkway and redo it.  Doing it this past summer would have put less people out and been less of a nuisance.

Not only could this have been accomplished in the summer, it definitely doesn’t need to be done during football season.  Every home weekend Auburn has 80,000 plus fans in the Auburn area.  The concourse is used during this time.  While the university says that this project will be completed in a month, before the next home football game, how often do those deadlines actually happen?  It’s construction, there are plenty of things that could go wrong and the time is actually only an estimation anyway.

Getting to the bookstore from the concourse is now a maze. Going from Thach to the Quad is now longer.  There are no straight lines between two places; every route is now skewed a little.  Some of us have 10 minutes to get from one side of campus to the next, the concourse made this much easier to accomplish, but now getting from one side to the other is close to impossible.

Not only have they torn up our concourse, they have also displaced my department, The Department of Communication and Journalism.  Our teachers all have tiny offices with no windows in the basement of Haley.  Our classes are randomly placed around Haley Center with no real order.  Tichenor Hall, while getting an awesome and much needed renovation, was our house.  We now have no house, no structure and no order.

I think that the concourse revamp is most disturbing because of our previous displacement from Tichenor.  None of the students asked to be displaced and now we are even more displaced by not being able to enter one of Haley Center’s entrances.  Getting to our classes is more difficult.  Noise levels are annoyingly loud in quadrants one and two making class time less productive and learning much harder.

I fully understand that Auburn does not do all of this construction to be an annoyance to all of their students.  I know that this construction is being done to further beautify Auburn and the campus, but it seems as if they decided to tackle every construction project in a way that would affect the most people.  I wish that maybe once in a while the students would be asked what we think.  Maybe we should have an opinion since we are the people most affected.

I have always been an outgoing person, willing to meet just about anyone.  So often times when I go to a social event or find myself with a lot of people, I automatically start up conversations.  Some are random, but some end up pretty interesting.  I’ve done this forever so I really didn’t think anything of it until this weekend.  I was with some friends and their parents and we were talking about our upcoming graduation and after graduation plans.  The parents were so willing to listen and give us feedback about our plans, some were even willing to help us to find a job or talk to their friends in the related fields.

Networking is something that I have always been a part of, but never really realized it.  For a while I thought it was mostly based on who your parents are and who their friends are.  But, it’s not.  You don’t have to have very social parents to network.   My parents are social, but not overly social.  They have a close-knit group of friends that they stick to and don’t go outside of the box often.  They are comfortable with people who are very similar to them in religious views, work and family life.  While this is very true of a lot of adults, I don’t necessarily agree with it.

You better yourself when you put yourself in situations that you are not used to.  You learn things about handling new situations.  You learn new things about yourself.  I have tried to put myself out there to learn the most about myself and about the way I handle situations.  I have learned to tweak the ways that I act and behave to better socialize.  It’s a fun learning experience that everyone needs to do.

Networking will make or break a person, especially in an economy like we have today.  I’m excited to see what I can accomplish, but know that I will probably need help from those people who have friends in my major.  I think that this will make me work even harder.  If I know that someone put their neck on the line and recommended me for a position, I will want to work hard to make their name as well as my own remain in good standing.

I think it takes a passion for something to really achieve at it so having a large network will not always work.  When I was younger I was very apprehensive about the whole idea of networking.  I didn’t understand how just knowing someone made you a better candidate for the job.  Now I have realized that that is not what networking is.  Networking is a way to get your foot in the door but it will not necessarily make you a successful person.  It may get you the job, but often times it will not keep it.  I have a passion for public relations, I plan to use that to the best of my ability in whatever position that I acquire.  If I do end up getting help from people I have met along the way, then I will be grateful, but I know that it isn’t the only reason I was chosen for an interview of the position.

People need to understand that regardless of the help that someone else gets, it all comes down to your talents.  It all comes down to what you have to offer and not just a recommendation.

After a weekend like this one, I had to ask myself, Can a football team or it’s staff really affect the public relations of the entire school?  Can one bad game giver Auburn a bad name?  I considered several options and decided yes, a universities sport team can affect the public relation of the school both negatively and positively.

Last night the Auburn University Tigers lost their second game of the season.  This time it wasn’t to a big team like LSU, but instead was to Vanderbilt.  While the game was close by score the game was definitely not close in the plays made or not made and the plays called.  We lost, Auburn was devastated and our top 25 hopes were thrown away.

But is this loss really such a big deal?  Can it really affect the University or the football program?  Sadly, yes it can.  For the remainder of the season we will be known as the team that lost to Vanderbilt.  We will be viewed as a week team offensively.  We will never shake the memory of our pathetic option offense.

Auburn University has some work to do.  Our media relations team will be working to the bone this next week trying to convince the media of several things.  To start they will have to stand behind the choice of Tony Franklin as our offensive coordinator.  The media and Auburn fans, as well as the other coaches, did nothing but praise the works of Tony Franklin.  We all were expecting such amazing thing to come from him.  Because he was praised so much, our expectations were higher than usual and he had no chance to mess up.  Well, he failed.  His offense does not work and people everywhere are questioning Auburn’s decision.  Auburn’s media relations team needs to make this whole unfortunate incident a positive and potentially good thing.

While this may seem like a big job for them to handle, Auburn media Relations has handled much larger predicaments.  A few years back a few Auburn trustees and the Auburn Athletic Director went behind the back of head coach Tommy Tuberville to try and hire a new coach.  Their complete lack of respect for the way Auburn handles situations caused a huge uproar among fans, team members and other coaches.  The view of Auburn athletics was tainted.  People were unsure of the entire program.  However, media relations stepped in and made the situation better.  Our university backed Tuberville and Tuberville stayed.

It seems to me that Auburn has athletic public relations problems covered.  They are able to keep the fans happy as well as those who give money.  It is a sad trust that an athletic team could be such a big deal to the Auburn family, but it is still the reality.  The public’s view of Auburn has Auburn football and Auburn athletics factored in.  Thank God for a good public relations team keeping Auburn University such a great place to be.  It proves that public relations is an important aspect for a company, business or in this case a school.  I’m glad to be in public relations, a profession that has the potential to make such a difference.

The color of the year is green.  Everyone is going green.  Celebrities are constantly promoting the idea of going green.  Even Al Gore, the former Vice President of the United States has joined in on the newest trend.  But, sadly, it takes more than just a few people to change the ideas and lifestyles of the rest of the world.  Many companies are starting to step in and help out with the environmental crisis that the United States has been facing.

Clorox Companies, Brita has been a long time partner of the green movement.  Brita’s first campaign was “FilterForGood” was launched a year ago. This campaign was begun to stress sustainability and publicize the need to reduce bottled water waste.  This campaign was a campaign for the general audience.

While some companies would think one campaign would be sufficient, Brita disagrees.  They have recently launched a new campaign on college campuses.  They have begun to focus on one group of people who really may be able to make a difference, the students.  The “College FilterForGood Eco-Challenge” was started as a more meticulous version of the “FilterForGood” campaign.  Under this campaign, Brita will present five college students with $10,000 grants for projects that could make the winning students campus more eco-friendly.

Students are finally getting the respect we deserve.  We are the generation that has the potential to really change the state of the environment.  We are the people who might be able to truly make a difference.

It was an ingenious idea for Clorox and Brita to finally realize who they needed to target.  The general audience may change one or two things about their life, but a student can reform an entire campus.  Any changes that students make on their campuses will stick for years to come.

Brita is also using a clever method to attract these eager college students, Facebook.  Facebook is almost every college student’s connection to the world.  Brita recognized the popularity and have made a Facebook profile for their company.  They have begun to integrate their “Eco-Challenge” and will send alerts for proposal requests.

It’s almost shocking to me that businesses realize the importance of Facebook to students around the country.  These companies are catching onto a trend, and using it to their advantage.  It is inspired public relations, most likely recognized by the younger working generation.

While the success of this campaign can not be measured by real results they plan to measure success by the number of applications received.  Their campaign will not be entirely finished until they have seen the outcomes of the winning students’ projects.  Their money is going to a great cause, and these innovative ideas will help the five winner’s campuses.  Hopefully, the effects won’t stop there.  Most likely, campuses around the country will begin to adopt these eco-friendly ideas as their own and the trend will spread rapidly.

One student could potentially change the outlook of campuses around the world.  If Brita thinks that one student can make an entire campus change, just think about what a student body has the potential to do.  Students are a great supply to tap into and it’s nice to finally get some appreciation from big, successful companies.

I have finally found a reason to shop at Wal-Mart other than they are easy, cheap, and the first place that comes to mind.  Although many people blame Wal-Mart for killing small businesses and almost monopolizing on the market, Wal-Mart has taken the high road and began giving back to the community.

In the wake of this year’s hurricanes (Ike and Gustav), The Wal-Mart Foundation has become one of several companies to come to the aid of those in need.  Wal-Mart has pledged to give money to the relief efforts. They have given $2.5 million to the cause through both monetary donations and merchandise.  The donations will be divided amongst several organizations including The American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and Feeding America.  It will also provide money to funds such as The Texas Disaster Relief Fund and Baton Rouge Area Foundation.

While this is not the first relief effort that Wal-Mart has been a part of, it is an important one to note. Wal-Mart is trying to give back to a community that gives so much to them.  By aiding in relief efforts, they are showing their customers and the public that they care.  In turn, the customer will feel as if they are giving their money to a worthy cause and will continue to shop at Wal-Mart stores.

As one of the top companies in the United States, many people would see this donation as an obligation of the company because of it’s success.  However, in reality Wal-Mart does not have to provide any help, they are choosing to help.  Wal-Mart has seen that through their giving back they have continued on a path of high profit.  They have found that by letting the people know that they care, the people in turn reciprocate.

But the question has to be asked; will people get the wrong idea? What is Wal-Mart doing to ensure that people see them a helpful company and not as a company who is merely trying to increase their profits? What can Wal-mart do to show the public that they are helping because they have the means in which to help?  It is important for them to keep their publics positive because should people begin to take Wal-Mart’s donation as a ploy to increase profit, their sales may fall instead.

It’s a sad fact of life that people always will think more negatively than positively.  People want to see the bad in people and rarely find the good.  Wal-Mart must ensure the public in some way that they are not in this for the money, that they truly do care about the victims.  If they can’t prove that they are donating money with no intention of being reciprocated their overall reputation may be at risk.

So, was Wal-Mart’s donation a good donation?  I believe it was.  They now that they can help and they will. Had they not helped, those victims may not have had adequate food or water.  If nothing else, the victims will forever be grateful for the donations, the companies they donated too will be grateful, and the public will be grateful.  These disasters could happen anywhere, but Wal-Mart is doing its part to lighten the effects.

When the word “organic” is said what is the first thing that comes to mind?  Some would say natural and healthy while others might think that the idea of organic is just a ploy.  Organic foods are a trend that many Americans have embraced and stuck with.  The environmental dangers that our country has encountered have caused a mass amount of change amongst people of all ages, races and political backgrounds.

As organic becomes more popular different types of foods and products are being to produced to meet the demand of the environmental concerned consumer. There are now organic vegetables, fruits, dairy products, cleaning products, and more.  All products are made to help our environment as well as help the health of consumers.   While I am not strictly organic, I have taken an interest in the idea of organic therefore when I saw the September 8 article on PRnewswire, I was instantly interested.

The article stated that Sterling Vineyards, a well known Napa winery, has started to do their part to change the environmental problems.  To start, they have announced the release of wines made from organic grapes.  They will be releasing two types the 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and 2007 Chardonnay this month.  While Sterling Vineyard is no stranger to environmental change, the release of these wines is their first consumer based campaign to bring in more customers who have “gone organic.”

The important part of the story is not that they released the wine, but more importantly that they recognized that they too could be a part of such a popular movement. By just finding the way to produce a wine organically they have already increased the possible consumers available as well as increasing their possible financial gain in the future.  Sterling Wines have used a great opportunity to further their business and cause an impact on the wine industry.

To further their promise of environmental sustainability, they are a member of the new group 1% Percent for the Planet.  This group is an association of various businesses that contribute 1% of their yearly net revenues to different environmental organizations. While 1% doesn’t seem like much, Sterling Wines have already donated close to $50,000 to the cause.

Sterling Wines is working to change the lives of people from the inside out. They have changed the way that they produce their wines to cut down on the use of water and energy while also reducing waste.  After correcting their own problems and flaws, they turned to the public.  The publicized their changes and marketed their new products.

Sterling Wines have made their ideals popular amongst consumers, other businesses, and to the public relations world.  They are embracing the idea of public relations and making it work for them.  It is important for businesses to truly value our industry and the things that we can do for them.  It only takes one business to start a trend amongst others and I bet within a year or two most every winery will be releasing organic wines and following Sterling Wines noble lead.