Fall semester at Curry College, where I oversee the Public Relations concentration and teach most of the PR courses, has gotten off to a rocking start. Great classes. Engaged students. It's going to be fun!
I've also had a series of invigorating conversations as well with friends, some now-graduated and working as well as others just on the brink of graduating, that really got me going. The takeaway for me was the energy and enthusiasm all exhibited during our chats.
Bobby has been out in the working world for a little more than three years, and his resume already displays some very cool experience as a public relations professional. He currently works for an international hotel/resort chain and is having the time of his life.
Erika and Katie are seniors, both (to my dismay) graduating early and heading off to make their respective marks in the world as budding PR pros.
Erika is closing out her time at Curry College with three awesome internships and as president of the Curry College Public Relations Student Association.
Katie, as I learned during the Communication Department’s “New and Transfer Student Welcome” event, will embark on her sixth internship this semester. O.M.G.!!!
What all three have in common is a budding yet already unbridled passion for the public relations profession...its many challenges as well as its numerous opportunities,
They’ve all experienced enough to sense that PR…as much fun as I say it is in our classes…can be maddeningly frustrating as well as deliriously exhilarating. Every day is different with the various situations that pop up; every day is the same…ditto.
What remains a constant for me as a PR professional-turned-PR professor is the love that I have for the field of endeavor that has been my life’s work and the passion that I try to share with my students…all of whom I view as the next generation of communicators.
Not all of the folks who pass through my classes will work in public relations. In addition to those who have gone into pure public relations positions, others are making their respective marks in television or radio or on the stage as budding actors and actresses or in higher education administration…the list goes on and on, with me smiling all the way!
I keep up with these wonderful people through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, email, phone calls, lunches…you name it. But we remain connected, and I continue to be amazed at their enthusiasm for and pride in what they are accomplishing.
And that’s the “secret” to success in this life…enthusiasm for what you’re doing and pride in what you’ve done. Of course, it helps to be reasonably good at what you’re doing, and I’m happy to report that these young superstars are just that…good at what they do.
Make mistakes? Of course! I manage to thoroughly bungle things once in a while (a LOT according to some sources!). But they…and I…learn from these boo-boos and move on.
I hope you will be this lucky at some point in your life...doing something you really enjoy doing, working with people you really enjoy being around, and making a difference.
And when you do...let me know. Enthusiasm rocks!!
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays: First Series, Circles" [1841]
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