Katie Boland

Students now owe the federal government a record $13 billion in loans, not including loans owed to provincial governments or personal and credit-card debt ,says the Canadian Federation of Students.

I try not to speak about my very rapidly growing student debt after six years of post-secondary education because there is not much I can do about it until I start work full-time. Even still, it is going to take me years to repay.

Right now my current debt:

OSAP – $25,000 ( i think, it could be more)

TD Student Line – $18,000

My debt isn’t as bad as many other students with the same education because of the summers I spent working midnights on the General Motors Truck Line and working up-to three jobs at time. But as I tell many people, I am different that most people. I am very Rory Gilmore. I was going to school and I wanted to be successful ever since I was little. Many of my friends from home didn’t attend post-secondary because of the lack of funds or waited many years before going back.

I don’t know how or what governments and schools can do to combat this overwhelming debt students are dealing with, but all I can say from a student perspective is that money has been a stress that has taken my attention away from my education way too many times.

Also, some of my colleagues were on A-channel discussing student debt this Wednesday, check out the broadcast here. If only I stayed a little bit longer.

This past week, Bob Ledrew, Cait Lafleche and I spoke at an IABC Senior Communicator’s dinner to discuss youth and social media. Many issues arose during our discussions, but one in particular has stuck with me. With our current media landscape, people are always under surveillance from pictures at a party to a comment on a Myspace page and all of it being documented. I understand this now as I begin my journey as a public relations practitioner on how important my activities can be for my own personal brand and the company I work for in the future.

However, I still have a hard time with this because I grew up using different types of social media and it shaped part of my identity especially when I was young girl confused and unsure of my future. I remember using ICQ when I was in high school and pretending to be the other Katie Boland, the actress from Zack Files, because at that time I wanted to be an actress and I didn’t understand what I was doing could be wrong. Or the personal entries I wrote in my livejournal for over six years and how it kept me close with my best friends despite being in different cities.

All these things are true and they shaped the person I am today, and I have a hard time if an employer would judge me on my behaviour when I was nineteen and the person I loved broke my heart. I have grown a lot in the last few years, and I know that how you handle things can be a true reflection of who you are, but I think judging people solely on things that may have happened a few years ago is not fair, especially for someone my age. When you are young, a lot changes in a year.

Many people have their opinions about this, what do you think? What is fair game for employers to judge recruits on?

Being a university graduate who is now in her final year at college, I get asked a lot why I decided to go to college after university. It could have been a combination of many things; like not wanting to work full time, or wanting to explore my future goals in greater detail, but primarily I wanted to be practically skilled in public relations.

It was during my last year at Carleton, my classmates and I were trying to get our fellow students more involved. Our teacher, Josh Greenberg brought some speakers into our class to talk about public relations and going to college after university. The speakers included Capital PR blogger and Thornley Fallis professional, Keelan Green and Algonquin’s College former program PR coordinator Peter Larock. Keelan scared me, and made me realize I have a lot more to learn and it was very unlikely for an employer to teach me these skills.

So, I went to college.

Going to university was not a waste, as some people assume since I wasn’t prepare to enter a job after school. A lot of my classmates got jobs after school, some upgraded like me, and some went on to Masters Degrees.

Some of the most important skills I learned at Carleton’s Mass Comm program that have not been replicated in my college environment include:

Media Analysis: I can conduct both qualitative and quantitative media analyses, a skill that has yet to be taught at college. Saving and scoring media content is a common task for entry level practitioners and is used as a tool to investigate how a brand or company is being perceived in the media. Throughout my program at Carleton I produced more than three media reports and this is a skill I value very much from my university education.

Communication Theory: Understanding how and why people use the media can be an important skill for public relations practitioners. Before implementing any strategy or presenting a plan to a client or a vice-president, it can better sell your idea if you include research or theory to back up your plans.

All and all university provided me with a solid foundation to enter into college and I believe it was a beneficial experience for me to enter into the public relations field. College touches on these skills, but it cannot go into as much detail as university does. I would recommend the program at Carleton to anyone starting out as a foundation to public relations and communications.

Over the last week, I have been going classes, meeting new professors and getting pumped for the year. As much as I think I am completely ready to jump in and go to work, I think I can truly benefit from my last year of school. There is lots of traditions in the program I still have to experience including the Welcome to the Program Party, the Teddy Bear Raffle, the Halloween Party fundraiser, and the agency. Although, I am not going to be directly leading any or all of these traditions, I still think they are an important part of the experience.

Most of all I am really scared about handling my school work, my volunteer work, and my two jobs. I have done really well so far at managing it, I just hope I can keep it up. I have worked really hard over the last two years to make any silly mistakes.

So with that, Welcome Back fellow classmates, Here’s to another great year.

After a long and very rough two weeks of papers, evaluation, and exams, the Algonquin PR students are finished for another year. This year’s 20th annual spring fundraiser donated $24,000.01 to the Ryan’s Well Foundation thanks to the tenancy of the first-year PR students.

I can’t believe we did it. 

As a student you have big dreams and wild expectations on what you would like to achieve, and to know that we accomplished above and beyond what we set out to do is really amazing. It has been very rewarding year and much more then I expected when I enrolled in the program last spring. To know that I have experienced this much in a year is wild and I wonder how I ever handled it all.

Now the summer is here I am back at it. I started two jobs this Monday, first at the Student’s Association on campus as a director and secondly, full-time as a marketing assistant. This is summer is going to be just as busy, but I can’t wait.

Joseph Thornley, of Pro PR, further the discussed the necessary educational requirements for public relations practitioners here.

I have been struggling with this for a while, PR diploma or M.A. in Communications, or both? I want to work in PR, but I also have a personal goal of getting my masters. I keep wondering how necessary it will be for now.. or for later. But what really got me was Ryan Anderson’s comment to Joe’s post:

Education is important, but being over-educated is as bad as being undereducated in my mind. There’s a fine line between the quest for knowledge and delaying life.

I think Ryan is soooo right.

Delaying life…. Is that what I am really doing? I have wondered why I continue to research different types of programs and courses I could enroll in. I am so scared to start my career. Even working part-time as a marketing assistant scares me sometimes, I feel like I shouldn’t be trusted with responsibility, I am just a student. But there is no better way to learn then to do it.

Going to college was my way to perfect my writing skills and general pr practices. I justified more education by telling myself that working without understanding the practices first will look poorly on me. No one has the time to teach me everything, so go to school. I am definitely not regretting going to college for public relations at all! But it is not required, especially after a four-year communications degree.

But what I have learned is that, learning by actually working is the best form of education. I have been volunteering with CPRS since October and it has been very beneficial. I have been learning in a safe environment, where it is safe to learn and get better. I have grown relationships with some leading professionals in the Ottawa area who have trusted me to be a Volunteer Coordinator for our upcoming conference.

I think my goals for getting a masters in London, England will have to wait. I have lots of university debt that could get paid off by actually working.

I have no doubt in my mind I can do all these things. It is just that, getting a full-time job means I am an adult and play time is over.

I attended my first ever Third Tuesday event earlier this week and it was rewarding experience. Any advice I could offer my fellow students is to get out there and take advantage of these opportunities.

Danielle Donders, blogger and communications practitioner, spoke to room full of marketers, communicators, students, and computer enthusiasts about her experiences throughout the years as a ‘mommy blogger’.

Danielle has been posting almost daily her in blog, Postcards from the Mothership since January 2005 with more than 950 blog posts.

The one thing I took from the discussion centered around blogger relations is how to pitch to a blogger. You should read the blog, know the person you are pitching to, and time your pitch appropriately. Personalizing and researching your pitch will show the blogger that you are really interested in their opinions and view them as a credible source. Everyone likes compliments and free offers, but truly showing a blogger that you value their endorsement can make a huge difference.

Also, Danielle acknowledged that when a public relations agency seeks her out to promote a product or service she views her client as the agency, rather then the product or service.

I will definitely be attending the next Third Tuesday event and hope more students will take advantage of this opportunity. I meet a lot of Thornley Fallis and 76design employees and made some good connections.

In other news, I got a job! I will be starting as a marketing assistant at DNA 13 next week and look forward to this amazing opportunity.