Life After My Project

Life After My Project – Amber Theinert

Is there life after working on a project and graduating with a Masters degree from OU? But of course! If not, then there would be absolutely no reason to be here.

While we as a class will take very different paths after our graduation, some off to get the coveted Doctoral and some (including myself) hope that this final project will land us the job of our dreams, or at least on that path to said job.

I find myself in very different circumstances then most graduate students. I’m a working professional, going to school part-time while holding down a full-time job as the Event Manager at the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in downtown Oklahoma City. I’ve got two beautiful children (one born during the summer between my 1st and 2nd year of grad school) that always want my nose out of the books and paying more attention to them. I’ve come back to school so I can not only better my own life, but insure that my family is always taken care of.

So what is my life after school? I imagine it won’t be much different then now, other than a lot less stress. I will continue working full-time, although I hope to change my career field and work in sports administration (more specifically, sports public relations). I find this field so intriguing, and an area that I feel I can really make an impact in as a woman. I’d like to work in the collegiate athletic atmosphere, but with the Sonics franchise moving to Oklahoma City I feel like a really wonderful opportunity is presenting itself to me. I just have to keep my ears open for the job postings.

My ultimate goal from the beginning was two-fold; (1) get a Masters degree that will get me a great job I love; and (2) get said degree before my own children start school. After 2 years in the program and looking forward to the last year, I truly believe now that the goal is achievable.

Will I contribute to the overall body of knowledge? I guess. Will my project make radical changes in the world of sports public relations? Probably not. Will I ensure that I have a solid project that will be impressive to any employer? Absolutely. And as long as that great job can pay me enough to afford these crazy gas prices, I will be very happy!

Hmm, Life after Proposal

Taylor Newcomb

I believe there is life after proposal, simply because this proposal will end in a little over a year. However, this is just the easy bit. The next part is quite hard. The part is finding a job. Until then, we just have to figure out what our project would be, or what it will be based upon. But, despite the search for the job or the need for the project, we will still be facing Freedom after the project. Even with that freedom, there are still the problems of responsibility and all that. It will be a pain, but the biggest pain of all (the project) will be a mediocrely happy memory. After that project, I will finally be able to start my real life and career, something I have waited a long time for. 

I am here to be able to get a great degree that lead's to a cherry job. I feel that my project will lead to that job. I may not be completely sure what my final product will be in the project field but I feel that whatever I end up doing will give me a new understanding of how everything works in public relations. That is what I want most for my life after project: Knowledge. With knowledge, I will be able to enter the field and understand how everything works and connects to each other and how to manipulate it to get the desired results. 

I don't want to be "Lucky Jim" and fall backwards into a position. I want to be someone that organizations come after. Yes, I can hear your laughs, but it's not like I want to own the Dallas Cowboys (if you watch the Simpsons, you'll get that). I just want respect and to feel needed in the job world. And to do that, I need to complete a great project. 

After the project, it will take some hard work to get through the first few years of trying establish myself, but with that project in the can it would allow give more credence. With an emphasis on Bernays and propaganda, it should allow me a greater step. Even though, Bernays' work is decades old it is still very relevant and can still be incredibly useful now. 

The audience I am looking to influence is the public relations field. That field is the one that will give me my job and my future. It would be important for my peers in the field to know what work I have done and how I did it. With this, I will be able to show that I belong so that I can continue on in the career and get a better job after every few years. I am not sure whether I want to work for a public relations firm, a corporate communications department, or a government agency, but I am sure that I need to reach out to those people as an audience in order to impress them and gain a standing in the field.