Let Me Show You

Fall break was this past weekend and I will say: it was beyond overdue. The weekend prior, I briefly went home to visit my brother who was in from Seattle, but that wasn’t long enough of a break. This weekend was full of time well spent, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a schedule. Friday night, my boyfriend and I visited my house to spend time with my mom. This was done the best possible way we know how: eating food on the couch while watching Grey’s Anatomy. Mom and I were five episodes behind on the last season… so obviously we binged all five of those episodes including the two-hour season finale. All this while my dad was blissfully socializing with some old friends at a retirement party. Saturday morning my boyfriend and I went to First Watch for a delicious pancake breakfast. I always enjoy going there when I’m around and it’s never gotten old in all 21 years that I’ve been going. Mom and Dad had taken us there since the siblings and I were just babies, but I remember be...

This semester, alongside social media strategies and campaigns, I am taking another public relations course: issues in pr. This class has been far different from any class I’ve ever had, but certainly not in a bad way. On the first day of class the professor said it would be a lot like book club and by now, I can’t imagine she’s wrong. So far we’ve read all the way through one book- Stamped: Racism, Anti-racism and You- and mostly through a second.  While part of our grade in this class is to lead discussions and contribute to them, we also have a few writing assignments, one of which is a book review, which, for the first book, I think is worth sharing: Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism and You written by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi, is a critical analysis of America’s history through the lens of racist ideals. Reynolds and Kendi’s arguments throughout the book were continuous and often directly stated: (1) this was not your ordinary history book, (2) America was built on racism ...

I am finally in the home stretch! Beginning last Thursday was the three formal rounds of sorority recruitment. As the vice president of membership for my chapter, I was in charge of everything encompassing each night. From selecting outfits to house decor and conversation topics to pairing who from our chapter the potential new members would talk to. Recruitment is truly a science and while I certainly enjoyed it, I’m glad it is over.  Planning recruitment had to come close to what it’s like when planning a wedding. I only made that connection when going into work and talking with a newer employee whose wedding is in 10 or so days. Thankfully, I didn’t have to deal with any food, but many aspects are just as rigorous. When planning a wedding, seating arrangements are extremely intentional. You don’t want to pair anyone who you don’t think would get along. In recruitment, this same principle is applied to pairing potential new members (PNMs) with current members. We try our best to ...

  Recruitment is finally here! Which means- after this week, I can breathe again! That fact itself is really keeping me going. This semester has felt like it’s been moving in slow motion leading up to this point. There’s been many late nights of planning, meetings and stressing over if I’ve thought of everything. What’s reassuring is having two advisors who have done the role themselves, but I wouldn’t have thought about how much this position relates to my major.  This position itself teaches a few obvious skills: event planning, delegating and time management. But I ended up using a lot of the skills I already had. For example, part of this role is being aware of the brand and what we stand for. Delta Zeta has six core values at the center of this brand, they are: friendship, belonging, community, curiosity, generosity and empowerment. As the name of my blog is “Let Me Show You,” I thought I’d do exactly that to show our audience our brand. I had our members participate in a...

Coming into college, I never thought I would be as involved on campus as I am, but I also never thought I would learn so many skills outside of class. Sure, I’m a marketing student- I can tell you the importance of the 4P’s, knowing your audience and maintaining brand awareness. I’m a PR minor- I can tell you how what you post on one platform isn’t going to translate to another or how important it is to post consistently if you want to start gaining a following. But I’m also a videographer/editor and all 4,000 hours I’ve put into learning and doing that the past three and a half years didn’t come from a class. I know I still have a lot to learn there, but what I’m talking about isn’t just where I want to push my career. I’m talking about how Ohio Northern has played a pivotal role in curating me into a leader- which is still weird to me.  Over my past three years I’ve set different goals for myself. Freshman year, it was to make ONU home. I did that by joining a sorority, figurin...

Last year was my Junior year of college and every day I walked to the Starbucks at the front of campus to grab myself a ham & swiss croissant and a venti iced white chocolate mocha with oat milk. As we all know, Starbucks is expensive- my polar points quickly ran out and my boyfriend graciously offered up his own polar points when they did but on days where I couldn’t snag his card, I used the loyalty app and started collecting stars. What does this mean? Free drinks? Free food? No, free cups. For one, the cups are pretty. I liked the patterns and that some of them had a metal interior to keep my drink cold for longer. For two, I hated the cups they gave in store. All the flavor that made me buy the same coffee drink every day was at the bottom. The sippy lid didn’t cut it and neither did the amount of plastic waste I would generate getting the drink every day plus a straw. So I got a cup! And then another. And pretty soon I had one cup for every day of the week. I was a little bit...

Senior year brings many challenges- all of which I’ve willingly signed up for. I used to always say as a kid that I love a good challenge and that statement has translated into my adult self being extremely busy.  Going into Junior year, I was expecting to graduate early but when scheduling classes for the fall semester, I realized two of my final classes are only offered in the spring. At first I was bummed, now I had to pay for a whole additional semester of class but I quickly turned my narrative to realize that I could keep my fall semester light. I am only taking three classes and the senior capstone project- totaling a whopping 12 credit hours. Not bad. Now let’s start adding.  Last year was my first year as a peer mentor, which I greatly enjoyed despite my mentees not enjoying it so I am continuing that. After taking a brief pause for a semester from my sorority for financial reasons in the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, I came back last fall and ran for a position on o...