What Happens After UWW?

This past Wednesday (which just happened to be my birthday!) we had the pleasure of hearing from Amy Paul, a recent graduate of UW-Whitewater. Her presentation was extremely interesting and helpful, and I really enjoyed listening to her story of how she went from a PR student to a PR professional.

Amy graduated from UWW in 2011. Shortly after graduation, she took a position at the Milwaukee County Executive Office as a Public Relations Assistant. Amy was in charge of several different aspects in this position, from constituent communications, planning and executing major county events, to administering all social media efforts for the office. Amy's second job was at Bottom Line Marketing & Public Relations as a Public Relations Assistant. Amy said that at her first two jobs, she estimates that she wrote 95% of her day. Wanting to dig deeper into the digital side of PR, Amy moved to Ascedia where she is currently working as the Interactive Account Coordinator.

One very common theme that Amy stressed throughout her presentation was the importance of getting involved while still in college. Amy was a member of PRSSA and had four different internships throughout her college career, including positions with the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Admirals. Amy said that all of this extra-curricular experience helped immensely when she was thrown into her first position.

A couple things that I learned and found to be quite surprising had to do with Amy's internships. None of them were paid, and she stressed several times that you should always ask for more responsibility. I think this is such great advice, and Amy is a success story of this advice because she gained so much experience that someone in the same position who hadn't spoken up may not have gotten.

Along with the wealth of information Amy gave us about her journey through college and into the professional world, she also gave us several tips and professional courtesies that will prove to be very helpful when making this transition myself.

The PR Student

Hello, my name is Haley Elmendorf! I am a Marketing major and a Public Relations minor at the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater. This is my fifth year in college and I will be graduating this upcoming May. I have many interests and ideas about which career path I want to take once I graduate, but I believe I will start in the southeastern Wisconsin region and pursue a career in commercial real estate. This past summer, I had an internship with a company called Campus Special where I sold advertising space to local businesses. I really enjoyed this internship because it allowed me to really step out of my comfort zone. I was also able to apply a lot of skills that I have learned so far in both my marketing and public relations courses. In Tactics II this semester, I am very excited to learn more about how the many different aspects of "Web 2.0" can be extremely beneficial in many public relations practices, and how to make sure I have a positive web presence. No matter what field I end up working in, these skills will be very important. While at school, I work at the front desk of Fischer hall on-campus, and I love interacting with the residents. In my free time, I love to read, watch movies and TV shows, and spend time with my friends and family. My favorite book series of all time is the Harry Potter series. I'm also a huge Packer fan and love football Sundays. I love to visit my family and my dog, Lucy, who just turned four this year.

Throughout the semester, I'll be updating my progress throughout my Tactics II course and the rest of my exciting life here at UW-Whitewater.