flyEUG.com

It has been seven weeks since I started my internship at the Eugene Airport.

I have seen many new ideas come in to the development. I am really excited about their newest addition. The new website is up and running!!!

The new flyeug.com website is much more tech savvy with tons of new buttons to play around with. With tabs such as flight information, getting here, services, visitors, and extra, the website provides plenty of fun for everyone. There are even printouts for coloring to keep the kids entertained!

It’s All About Experience

As a public relations student, I hear this all the time, “It’s all about experience.” The more you do, the more you learn, the more your potential employers will be impressed. Well this term, I have had the opportunity to get real life experience through my Public Relations Campaigns class at the University of Oregon.

At the beginning of the term we were assigned to groups and were handed a client that was in need of a public relations plan. I was excited to have the opportunity to help the Oregon Trail Council with retention rates. All term, we have been meeting with out clients, conducting research, and using our creative minds to develop some strategies. It was challenging searching for ideas that can be easily maintained by Oregon Trail Staff in the future as well as ideas that are low in budget. We put our five brains together and came up with ideas that the staff welcomed with open arms!

We are in the current stages of implementing these ideas. Ideas such a mentor plan, internal blog, video concept, and an exit survey are coming to life. While it will take some time to measure the outcome of our plan, I do look forward to seeing how it will impact this great organization!

Oregon Trail Council

Slowly Coming to an End

Summer is finally coming to an end. This is officially my last summer as a college student, and after three years of school, I think I am ready for it to be my last one. 

So much has happened during these last two months. I finished my internship at Alvord-Taylor Independent Living Services. I spent some time in the East Bay area. I got published in a newspaper, Daily Emerald, and a magazine, Emerald Magazine. Last, but not least, I received an internship at the Eugene Airport.

I will be interning in the Public Relations and Marketing department. It is a two-term, 10-hour-a-week dedication. And while it will test my stress levels and add a few grey hairs to my head due to my already busy schedule with a 17-credit term and a 30-hours-a-week job, the internship will be an amazing opportunity! 

I’ve also updated my online resume! Check it out!

www.visualcv.com/spalavra

New Haircut, New Attitude

First of all, I have been so busy with school, work, and my internship, that I have not had time to blog. So much has happened since the springtime questionnaire. However, I have had some good professors help me face my fears of the real world. I am not as nervous about stepping into the real world as I was before. 

On that note, today I got a new haircut along with a new attitude. This new hair has given me the confidence to really be as professional as I am capable of. As soon as I got home from the salon, I sat down and e-mailed about 10 different media stations. From print to television, everyone received a news release announcing Alvord-Taylors 35 years of helping disabled adults. It is an important event for the organization and I hope everyone else also sees it too. The real test will be the next few days as we wait to see if the media picks up our story! 

Bare with us!

Spring Time Questionnaire

This is my last spring as a college student. By next spring, 2010, I will be ready to take the next step in my life in hopes of becoming a public relations practitioner. 

As I approach the end of this school year, so many questions have come to mind. I consistently ask my self, so what’s next? I know I am moving to California next year, but really what next? When should I start applying for jobs? Where should I apply for jobs? Should I start doing all of the research? 

As I think about all of these career questions, I get more and more nervous knowing my formal education has come to end. Now it is time to step in to the world and search for a new beginning that will be the spine for the rest of my life.

Economy and Graduation

These last few days, I have been talking to a lot of people about our current situation in the economy. We have all come to conclusion that by the time we graduate, 2010, the job market will be at its worst. 

I, Sanja Palavra, will, in exactly one year, become a University of Oregon graduate. But the question is do I look forward to graduation or do I fear it? All this talk about the economy scares me to leave the safety net that the UofO provides me with. While I am in school, I don’t have to worry about getting a job or surviving in the real world. Instead, I am just a student with a college job at Forever21. Being that I am in my last year of schooling, I am nervous that I will become part of the population with no options for a job. Public Relations is a growing job marketing, but how long before it hits the climax?

I also have friends and a boyfriend who are somewhat behind in school for understandable reasons. They feel disappointed in themselves, although not their faults, that they are lagging behind their fellow classmates. However, I encourage them to stay in school as long as necessary to avoid the deflating economy. Continue to be a student until Barack Obama solves all of our issues. 

As of right now, all I can do is continue to study in hopes that the decreasing economy doesn’t send us into a mild depression.

Internship Blues

It has been two months and a week since I have arrived to Belgrade, Serbia and began my internship as a Marketing and Communication Specialist. On September 5th, my internship days will come to end! Happy or sad you ask? Well it is definitely a bitter/sweet feeling. I am excited to be done because it means I am that much closer to going home. However, it is sad because I will miss the people I have worked with and of course, with going home, I am leaving the rest of my family behind.

Overall, the internship has taught me a great deal about my self and has taught me plenty of new skills! From event planing all the way to preparing annual brand plans. It was hard, but with hard work came time to play. Through the company, I have enjoyed VIP attendance to events at clubs, festivals, and concerts. The one I will always remember is Kelis at Green Beat! She was amazing! And then she partied with us in the VIP!

Thank you Carlsberg Serbia for all of the wonderful opportunities you have given me!

"Love what you do"

“Love what you do,” is one thing that Donal Trump recommends for a successful career.
While there are some who dread going to their job, many people look forward to their every day job duties। So the question is; how do you become part of the population who love what they do?

It is simple। For college students, you want to examine all of the career choices that you have picked. See what kind of responsibilities come with what. If you aren’t up for it, then you may want to rethink what you are picking. But what about those who have already committed to a job and can’t quit for reasons such as money? Well then, take the quote in a different way. Find something about the job you enjoy doing and remind your self of that. By putting your main focus on the positives instead of the negatives, it will help you get up in the morning and it will make your day go by faster.

I have not had any jobs where I have regretted working। It sounds impossible, but it is not. Out of every situation, good or not, I focused on what each job had taught me that I could use in my future career job. For example, working retail at Forever21. That job is very fast paced and tiring at times; however, because every day I came in contact with new people who had new demands, I have improved my communication skills.

Just look at the positives and you will LOVE what you do!

2 in the past, 1.5 to go

As I am sitting here with all assignments done at my internship in Europe, I started thinking about my college years। It wasn’t till recently that I realized how close I am to being done with school and starting my adult life. I know many current and former college students are going or went through the same feeling, so I decided to share mine.

Two years ago, when I moved in to my first apartment as a freshman college students, I felt so weird with having so much freedom। With no parents to tell me to do my chores or what time to come home, I could be up all night if I wanted to. At the time, I felt like an adult. However, now that I look back on it, I was still an 18-year-old child. Although I did all of my homework, went to class, and got good grades, I still wanted to just go out all night and have a “good” time. It is not something a serious college student does. But regardless, I enjoyed my time. There were things I should of really thought about before doing, but all of that helped me become who I am now.

Today, I have finished two years of college and I am still in shock with how fast everything went by। Before couple of months, I did not even realize how close I am to finishing school and start the adult life. It wasn’t till my boyfriend and I sat down and talked about our relationship going to that next step. When we were done talking about moving in together after school, he simply said “That’s coming up soon.” That is when it hit me; I am going to graduate in less than two years and will be moving in with someone who I adore! Those two thoughts immediately changed my way of thinking.

In almost an instant, I felt older, a feeling I NEVER felt before। My heart began to race after I realized that this may be it. Everyone says college is that special time where you meet your friends you’ll keep for a life time and where you possibly meet, the ONE. And in that second, I got really scared. All I could think about was, I am half-way done with school and I am in a serious relationship. Is he the one?Was I ready for it? I went to my friends for guidance and just to vent on my new fear. And it was them who gave me reassurance.

Now when I look back at this, it makes me laugh at how I reacted। I got myself scared for nothing. There is nothing to be nervous about. Just because I am in a serious relationship halfway through college, it doesn’t mean I am going to marry the guy. I still have at least 40 years in my life to find the one. No need to stress over it. You just have to go with the flow of life! That is the best way to explain it. And if that means that it is in the stars for us to be together that way, then I would consider it a blessing to have such a good person to share my life with.

After everything, I am excited to graduate and see where my future takes me, career wise and relationship wise. And as far as the boyfriend? I’m gonna keep him around for as long as possible. Every day is a new adventure in this crazy world and guess we will see where this adventure will take us!