What Was I Thinking?? - Public Relations

 

*Turning to a prompt about looking back on something you're not fond of for this post.*

I've written a lot about most of my college experiences. Taking General Arts & Sciences fresh out of high school, or Scriptwriting several years later. What I've never written about was my attempt at Public Relations in the time between. Probably because PR wasn't my finest moment.

General Arts and Sciences was a great program, but not job material. Learning about Public Relations during a Careers class and being interested in possible public speaking connections, I applied to Algonquin College's PR program and got accepted for September of 2005.

The program started well-enough. Nice teachers, friendly classmates, work seemed okay, and opportunities to get out and socialize around the city. However, things started to get tougher. My first semester went decently, but the second proved more challenging. My grades started to slip and, rather than getting the help I needed, I tried to do too much on my own and started to flounder. 

Socially, people were friendly enough but, looking back, I tried WAY too hard to fit in. Went to a bar one weekend with some classmates and it's still one of the most ridiculously bad experiences I've ever had! 

This coupled with my grades should've been my cue to get out of there but again, I was stubborn. My first year ended with a failed class that I tried to hide and retake the following year. This went on to cause an endless amount of pain, hurt, and guilt on my part. And, for the record, my family knows all about this, it's just that I've never written about it before.

Public Relations: Year Two was fairly similar to Year One. Nice people, decent grades in several classes, but the exact same class continued to get the better of me. A third time wasn't the charm, and I cut my losses and dropped out part way through the course.

What followed was about a year and a half of penance, living out in the middle of the country (often on my own as my parents were working and sister was in college in the city), relying exclusively on my parents for almost everything, and desperately searching for something to do. This went on until I finally applied to Scriptwriting.

It was an awful experience, one I still regret and feel shame for, but if it did one thing, screwing up in Public Relations finally taught me the importance of seeking help and not trying to be so independent, which I applied to Scriptwriting later, taking a reduced course load to make things a little easier on myself.

And despite the many bad bits, and because this post reads as highly depressing, there were at least a few good things about PR:

• Early into the program, I participated in a Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire viewing party, which was advertised via a fun press release. 
• Despite a strike in the Winter, the class was able to pull off the programs' annual Spring fundraiser. I was on the Communications committee and got t-shirts made for everyone.

• I got Para Transpo for the very first time.
• I also took a city bus on my own for the first time. The mother flipped, but in a good way.

Cheers