I honestly can’t believe how fast our CCPR journey came to an end.... this was my shortest educational venture yet the one that made me grow the most.
My whole college experience really reminded me of high school... which was amazing because I loved high school.. well the social aspect of it anyway. My bff Elina K joined me in attending Centennial for the Book + Magazine Publishing Program, so we got to carpool 1st semester (deja vu a la grade 9)and be locker buddies for 8 months :). The caf chills,Toronto's "Degrassi High" old building, 8:30 mornings and spares, 5 days a week schedule with the same class all really brought me back to grade 12 lol. I remember graduating CHAT and thinking about how I couldn't wait to get to York U and the freedom of structuring my own schedule and meeting new people in every class and being completely independent. Then after 5 years of that, coming to Centennial felt like one last taste of being a kid!
Going to college was my first real grown up choice (ironically). After spending 5 years of my life at York U studying theory, theory and some more theory along with the glorified opinions of my professors, most of you can understand why I chose a much more practical/fun program at Centennial.
To me PR was the optimal choice because I figured one can never go wrong with having a post-graduate diploma in communications. In fact my mindset was: if I don’t become a PR starlet like Samantha Jones (SATC duh), I’ll at least come out a better professional writer, speaker and will have a few business promotion tricks up my sleeve. I also figured that this was the only profession where I could really thrive by making connections- networking, which most of you know is my hobby anyway (besides V-date which will come eventually to all of those patiently waiting).
It was supposed to be a backup plan to law school but instead it pushed law school to a backseat.
I chose Centennial over Humber and Seneca, because of feeling I had when I met Barry. At first it seemed sketchy; old "Degrassi”, out of this world staff who turned out to be so sweet especially Mary and Marilyn (except for the evil office lady), and a crappy one hour commute to the Danforth of all places twice a day but I had a feeling that this man would really make a difference in my life and the school turned out to be somewhat of a diamond in the rough.
To this day, that was the best decision I ever made for my professional future and myself as a person.
Today, 8 months later after having hosted an official fundraiser, done a press conference, attending tons of networking events, hammering out endless communication plans and working with an array of people, and even getting a taste of working at LG Fashion Week I can confidently say that CCPR really schooled me.
It definitely improved my writing and enabled me to communicate in a clear, concise manner; press releases, communication plans, social media campaigns, pitches, advertorials…bring them on.
I’ve always been social media savvy, but CCPR definitely forced me to explore platforms like Twitter and blogging, which I never fully understood, but now am proud to say I am obsessed with. I am also getting better and better at search engine optimization so let's get your websites found on Google :)
I’ve been planning events my whole adolescent life; but CCPR taught me how to do it right. Sponsorship, event roll outs, the little clutch details and event promotions are all significant aspects of event management, that I am now confident to say I know inside out.
I am no media-relations expert yet, but now I know how to approach the media, pitch to them effectively and build relationships with them…and I am no longer scared to do it!
I learned a thing or two about managing my career, group work, critical paths, being professional, hyper-linking (lol) and even managing my own client and a grand opening extravaganza.
I've always been social but very shy about approaching people professionally...thanks to all of the networking tips, I've attended a bunch of networking events and have met some really awesome people all over Toroot's PR spectrum.
Indeed CCPR provided me with a rather impressive portfolio for a student who hasn’t even started their internship in the PR field: My Portfolio.
But most importantly I learned the power of dedicated educators and truly inspirational people. Let’s face it; at university you are lucky if you find one professor who can match your name to your face. At Centennial, we had the pleasure of being taught by caring individuals like Bruce, Jessie-May, Sheldon, Paul and of course Barry who all knew us by names, common excuses and some of our most brilliant work.
To those who have not been fortunate enough to be inspired by their educators, I truly feel for you. These people taught us, related us, helped us to succeed and were attentive to our needs and concerns. They are not just teachers, but full-time communications professionals, who have taken time out of their busy lives to actually talk to us, attend our events, celebrate with us and guide us.
Most of you have heard me talk in awe about our program coordinator Barry. Barry is not just an individual who goes above and beyond for his students; over the past 8 months he has literally taken on the roles of; mentor, teacher, friend and has become all of ours adoptive father.
Barry IS CCPR plain and simple; he is building this program one assignment, guest speaker, course and student at a time. He has taught us endless media relations, corp com and online PR wisdom. He has also slaved away for the past 3 months ensuring that each of us (36 peeps) secures the field placement of our choice. Including helping me secure the internship I’ve been dreaming about since November.
What I respect about him most is the fact that this man has achieved tremendous success in the PR industry and is a local PR celebrity (see his LinkedIn connections if you don’t believe me) yet he has always treated us with ultimate respect (no scolding, trivializing, condescending comments EVER), understanding and support. So thank you Barry for every single opportunity you emailed us about, every lesson you taught, every guest speaker you brought in and every connection you’ve help us built. ‘An apple for a timeless teacher’ can fully capture my gratitude to you, but I have a feeling that as a true “parent”, the only way we can REALLY thank you is by attributing our future success to you and making you proud of having been our teacher. Thank you for the inspirations and the motivation.
Our class was a true cast of characters and our experience was definitely anything but boring or mundane. I've never had the pleasure of graduating with a class in which I know and adore 99% of the people before, nor have I been able to truly say that I have learned so much useful practical stuff that I am actually ready to start a career.
So CCPR gang, thank you for the music and the past 8 months. We bonded, stressed, and got everything done together. We optimized our individual talents to make dynamite projects and events, and definitely learned a lot from each other. We bitched, we drank, and even karaoked "Graduation". Our friendships, social media connections and BBM group are forever; we are a solid network of amazing, talented people so let’s kick ass and make Barry proud.
stormborns
baratheonpilled
dailybridgerton
yousharknotpass
snowghoul
discoholicmusic
prguitarman
gracieabrams
pixelskylines