By Mira Kuhar
I truly believe I was born to be a Bobcat. After my first tour at OU, I knew deep down that I had already made my college decision. I can’t really say why. Maybe it was the brick lined streets. Maybe it was the way the beautiful buildings blended in perfectly with the trees. Or maybe it was the way everyone looked excited to be there, their eyes shining with excitement and enthusiasm. Being the fickle person that I am, the fact that I felt like this after one, maybe two college visits was pretty incredible.
However, when it came to picking a major, I was completely stumped. My parents asked me what I was most interested in, and every time I would shrug my shoulders and change the subject. I had no clue what I wanted to do and the fact that I had so many different interests really didn’t help the matter. I took a few career quizzes online but they were a total bust. Every time I got different results ranging from teacher, to social worker, to dance instructor. Nothing ever really interested me. Eventually there was one thing I decided I had a passion for: English. It had always been my strongest subject in school. Reading, writing and everything in between; I loved it all. I knew I had to make a career from something in this field.
One day, my dad suggested that I look up communications and marketing. He explained that as an editor, he works closely with these people and that it might be something that would interest me. These words were so foreign and intimidating to me. However, I was intrigued, and I decided to do some research. I read job descriptions online, took a few more career quizzes, and eventually decided that this was something that I would absolutely love to do. Then my dad told me about a new program at OU under the title of Strategic Communications and I learned about public relations. I was hooked. Although I didn’t know exactly everything that this major entailed, I was okay with that. I knew that when I got to school and started taking classes, I would uncover more.
I didn’t know what to expect from my major when I first got to school. I thought I’d be taking classes that had to do with strategic communication right away, doing cool, hands-on things unlike in high school. I soon found out this was not the case. I was placed in a huge lecture class with all the first-year Scripps kids – broadcast, print, and PR majors alike – and I was slightly disappointed. I was so excited to find out more about strategic communications, public relations, advertising and social media in a more intimate way. Sitting in a crammed lecture hall with people of every major Scripps offers was not my idea of intimate. I needed more.
Before I came to college I knew I wanted to get super involved. I wasn’t very involved in high school so I decided to take college extracurricular activities by the reigns and try everything and anything. This is when I came across PRSSA. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, I just heard it was a great for networking and it was a pretty good resume builder. So I decided, what the heck, I’ll just join and see what happens. That turned out to be one of the best decisions I made my freshman year. Not only was PRSSA a great resume builder, but I learned many useful, lifelong skills that I never would have learned in a classroom. I learned how to write a press release, how to professionally run social media sites, how to use InDesign and Photoshop and so many more things. I also discovered that there are so many things that you can do with PR, which is probably my favorite thing about my major.
I can take this profession to whatever degree I want, wherever I want. Start my own business? I can do it. Work in a hospital promoting health and fitness? I can do that, too. Work for an agency and represent a wide variety of different products? I can absolutely do that as well. The options are literally endless. This is perfect for me since, as I said before, I am quite a fickle person. I can change and grow and do what is right for me at the time in my field. This career was meant for me, and the more I think about it, the more I believe in it.
Not only was I born to be a Bobcat, but I truly believe I was born to be a Scripps kid and a PR star. There’s literally nothing else I’d rather be doing and nowhere else I’d rather be doing it. For me, my first-year experience was amazing. I grew a developing passion for my school and my major, and I’m on the right track to develop what I need to build a bright future for myself. I can’t wait to get down to Athens to start my second year. OU? Oh yeah!