As a student in the integrative studies program at George Mason University, I'm expected to do copious amounts of Working Without Getting Paid. Occasionally it will be referred to as an internship or volunteering but well, it's not really voluntary if it's required, is it? I marched up to the school a few days ago to try to wrap my mind around this New Century College marketing project being overseen by Sarah Sweetman but I've still got my doubts about this particular endeavor due to the fact that whoever I would be working with hasn't even come in yet. I have no idea what the scale of this project is and there are about a million other uncertainties involved. In general, I'm not a huge fan of not knowing what I'm in for.
The idea of doing market research for something I'm actually involved in interests me, though. I also enjoyed the idea of professional interaction with students and administrators from other schools; I found myself romanticizing First Contact. That is, I could potentially be responsible for someone's educational course of action by introducing the idea of this integrative studies program.
I hold Matt Bruno responsible for my current educational course of action. Was my First Contact with New Century College romantic? Oh, you know it was.
I had arrived early for orientation that day. It was my first day on campus and I was excited to see a number of tables filled with Free Stuff and Free Beverages that had been set up in the Johnson Center atrium. I went from table to table collecting mugs, water bottles, pens, letter openers, and various other swag all while practicing the fine art of shmoozing. I believe I was on my third or forth cup of tea when all the way across the room, I spied An Attractive Young Man. I rubbed my eyes and blinked several times just to make sure because, you see, An Attractive Young Man in the DC area is like a rare bird. I quickly shoved a handful of teabags in my pocket and floated across the room to get a closer look.
I looked up at this tall handsome stranger and he smiled at me. Then I looked down at his nametag (I distinctly recall his nametag) which told me his name was Matthew Bruno. I was all at once crestfallen at the thought of this man being my superior becuase he didn't look too much older than me and goodness gracious, he was gorgeous. Nice body, kind of scruffy but at the same time very soft-looking, VERY well-dressed, cute smile, and beautiful blue eyes that told me......well, Fuck. There's no way this man is Not Gay.
We made some small talk about the weather then he invited me to sit down. There were two chairs facing each other at this small round table. The lights were dim and I couldn't really see his face until he sat down and was illuminated by the candle between us. I'm pretty sure I heard a violin playing in the background.
"So could I interest you in a meatball sub?"
I clutched my heart with one hand and began to fan myself with the other. "Wow. You sure do know the way to a girl's heart. But uh, unfortunately I went vegetarian a few months ago so um, do you have anything else?"
The handsome young man shoo'd away a waiter that has been lingering nearby with a covered platter. "Hmmm. Do you like omelets? Spinach and feta maybe?"
I nodded eagerly and he pointed at the table and magic sparkles came out of nowhere followed by a cloud of smoke. When the smoke had cleared, there was a plate in front of me with a spinach and feta omelet on it. He reached behind his ear and produced a fork and handed it to me.
"WHOA! Where did you learn to do that?!"
"Ah, I'm glad you asked. I actually went to undergrad here at Mason and there's this integrative studies program called New Century College..."
The point is, I should be able to do what Matt did presentation-wise. All he did was stand there and give me information but somehow, it was easy to take him serious. That brings me to my next point...
The main challenge to myself is to come across not as a student but as Someone Who Gets Paid. When I am making phone calls, sending emails, or standing in front of a group of people I don't want those people to know I'm a student. I don't want them to question my validity or knowledge on whatever it is that I'm supposed to be knowledgeable on. I don't really know if this is a possibility but it's something I'd really like to strive for. I need to be able to hide my immaturity a little better when it comes to the working world. I'm just plain Not Professional. Not in speech, not in writing, not in manners, and certainly not in appearance. (I feel confident that I will rack up at least 10 hours on this project trying to find professional-looking shoes that will fit on my fat, swollen feet and not hurt.) At the least, this needs to be camouflaged. At the most, this needs to be changed.
Normally, I would be excited about a project that included creating the project because it gives me more power and room for creativity. Of course, the problem with this is that is doesn't work so well when you're expected to write about it and determine what you're going to learn from it. I had this problem last semester when I set up a group project for NCLC 249; we were supposed to teach computer skills to children and seniors at a community center but uh, very little of that actually occurred. Computers were supposed to be the point but in reality, they clearly were not. What we presented and wrote about was glorifying 20% of what took place. I am aware that goals will not always be met and unexpected things will be learned but this particular project went from dealing with technology to dealing with children. Those are two completely different things. I would prefer that this next project come with some sort of guarantee that I will in fact be dealing with more than just 20% of the things I'm actually in this to learn about (marketing, public relations, market research, IMC, communication, planning).
Perhaps it's stupid of me to continue to try to figure out the logisitics of this project before it's completely created but in my mind, I see it as being not so different from the IMC (integrated marketing communications) plan I created for one of Lafarge's joint compound products at the beginning of last year. This project was set up incredibly well; though it was a mock plan, I had to interact with actual people at the company and the thing was turned in to the director of marketing (my teacher). To come up with some additional goals I tried to think of things lacking in that project; what did I want to get out of it that I didn't?
I think I need a better understanding of framework concepts, i.e. time and money. I've always done fairly well with fitting school work and projects within the framework provided but I honestly don't know a single thing about what's realistic when it comes to real life business. The goal of this project is to get the word out about NCC which will obviously be an on-going thing. I need to have some sort of idea of how to set realistic deadlines; I'm not sure exactly how long certain things take.
Concerning money -- it would be a huge help for me to learn to fit things within a budget because I have absolutely no experience with this. (The IMC plan I worked on before had an unrealistic budget which was not really focused on too much.) I've never taken courses on accounting or economics and I am dreadfully bad at math. I have no idea how much things cost and that's something I need to learn. Unfortunately, I am really bad at conceptualizing money (what does it mean to make 30 thousand dollars; how much is that?) so I'm almost scared to add this to a list of things I am potentionally going to learn by doing.
Hopefully since this is real work, I will be dealing with competent individuals. If I bother to elaborate on this, I will look like an asshole.
Sigh. All of this is weighing heavy on my mind. Thankfully Sarah has given me the option of initially registering for two credits and later for three if I feel like I can handle it. I think I'll do that. I need to write up a list of objectives and strategies to send to Matt tomorrow. Oh, Matt...
"This all looks great except for one thing; Spontaneous Omelet Creation is not an objective. Sorry."
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