Grace Sewell

Dr. Berkos
COM 491-A
Senior Capstone Portfolio: Reflective Essay
5/4/2021

Upon arriving at Bryant University as a freshman in the Fall of 2017, I was a Biology

major with the high hopes of becoming a nurse practitioner one day. Although I struggled in the

classes I was in first semester and lost interest in the career, I thought I would find myself in one

day, I decided to push through.

It was not until second semester of freshman year when I started my introduction to

communication course with Professor Volkman that I made a realization. This introduction to

communication course interested me yet challenged me. I was able to get an overview of the

communication field and a taste of what different courses I could take in the future with this

class, and I had no plans on continuing to take courses that no longer interested me. Each week, I

learned about a different aspect of the communication discipline and realized the plethora of

opportunities an education in communication could offer me in the real world. From that point

forth, I changed my major to communication and catered the entirety of my course requirements

at Bryant to learning about all possible aspects of communication and fine tune my skills.

In addition to changing my major to communication in the Spring semester of my

freshman year, I became involved in an organization on campus, the Bryant Sales Team. Though

I initially did not become heavily involved in the organization because I was a communication

major, the team helped me to fine tune my verbal and nonverbal communication skills more than

I could have ever imagined.

 Although I considered myself to be highly social and a fine communicator prior to

attending Bryant, I realized I went a bit into my shell my first semester and did not know my

place in this new community I had joined. Luckily, when I found myself as a key player of the

Sales Team, I was able to step back into my low apprehension, high talker self.

As a part of the Sales Team, I have competed in several competitive, collegiate-level

competitions at Bryant and across the country. When competing in a role-play competition, the

goal is to essentially sell a product or service to a potential buyer (who actually works for the

selling company). Learning the sales process, I felt as though my communication background

enhanced the way in which I was able to win over the judges easily and effectively at these

competitions, as I knew how to listen, when to speak, and how to use proper body language.

An opportunity I was able to pursue due to being a communication was auditioning for

WPRI Channel 12’s Rhode Island State Lottery drawings. Communication majors in Rhode

Island were eligible to audition for this position as it involved executing mass and media

communication skills. I auditioned at the end of my freshman year and continued to work once a

week at the studio in Twin River Casino, reading the daily number drawings with Wild Money

drawings on Tuesday and Thursday. Although some weeks I dreaded making the short drive to

the studio due to schoolwork, each week I was on air I became more and more comfortable with

broadcasting the results. In the beginning of my time with WPRI, I would have to practice

reading the numbers before each drawing; however, after only a few months I was able to

confidently present the winning numbers without any issue. Unfortunately, with the onset of

COVID-19 and quarantine, the in-person lottery drawings were cancelled. Even though this

experience with the lottery was not required for my major, I believe it gave me invaluable

experience and insight into the communication discipline.

 Related to my participation and work on the sales team, I was able to intern for Liberty

Mutual the Summer of 2018. As a hopeful sales intern for an insurance company, I interviewed

with the site’s manager, where I presented essentially a communication plan as to how I would

reach out to potential prospects, gain their trust, and ultimately win over their business.

Over the course of this 10-week internship, I spent a lot of my time cold calling potential

customers and getting my footing in the sales space. Although cold calling is considered a sales

process, the roots of it is in communication. Nobody wants to receive an unexpected sales call,

especially from someone who does not use the correct wording and talks their ear off.

Implementing my communication skills into this practice definitely gave me a leg up and I

would successfully transfer customers to our full-time sales representatives each day. By the end

of the summer, I had made so many calls and fine-tuned my communication skills that when I

participated in an intern calling competition, I won! I used my communication skills, along with

the skills I had built over the course of the summer to successfully speak with possible customers

who often just hang up on others.

In addition to being involved with the Bryant Sales Team, I am a part of the Bryant Sales

Program, as a sales minor. Though this may seem irrelevant to my journey as a communication

major at Bryant, I found my communication background enhanced my success as a sales minor.

With a business minor, I had to take certain business courses like marketing to fulfill the

requirements of the business school. At Bryant, as most people know, group projects are present

in almost every class, especially business classes. I always found myself being the leader,

facilitator, or icebreaker of the group to ease tension, help get work done, and highlight each

person’s skills. I felt that I had the ability to do this because of my strong communication

background, along with the communication courses I took in tandem with these business courses.
Though business students probably could not use what they learn in a business class in a

communication course, I found myself using communication skills in business classes, which I

found pretty cool. This also reinforced my knowledge that being a communication major would

help me in various aspects of my life, not just in my line of work.

An aspect of my life that has been shaped over the course of my communication journey

is my social life. Coming to college, I had lived in the same town my whole life, friends with the

same group of five girls since kindergarten. I definitely knew myself to be outgoing,

communicative, and never quiet in any situation. My freshman year at Bryant, I was (un)lucky

enough to live in a suite with 8 other girls. Aside from the fact that I had not made new friends in

basically over a decade, I had never shared a space with that many people with so many different

personalities. Even though I only lived with that many girls freshman year, as I progressed in my

academic communication journey, and took more courses, I learned how to better communicate,

especially in difficult situations I faced socially.

Even as a senior, problems within my friend group are prevalent. I have found that these

problems often arise from lack of communication or unwillingness of others to communicate

their feelings or needs from others. I do not think it was until this year that with all the

information I have gathered from my communication courses that I have been able to identify the

root of the communication issues within social settings.

My most proud moment at Bryant University as a communication major was being

inducted into Lambda Pi Eta, the Honors Communication Society. Being able to be rewarded for

my hard work within the communication discipline alongside like-minded communication

majors was a great experience. Though with COVID, we have not been able to meet as much, we
have gotten together and bounced ideas off each other to help better the communication

experience for underclassmen.

One of the most important situations in which I have seen my communication knowledge

and expertise prevail has been the job search. As COVID came around toward the end of my

junior year, I found myself already stressed in finding a full-time position that I would be happy

in post-graduation from Bryant. I knew I wanted to be in a position where I could showcase my

strengths in communication and sales and ended up interviewing with many different companies

to find the best fit for myself. The craziest thing about interviewing for me was that I never felt

overly nervous or stressed to speak with recruiters over the phone, or executives via Zoom. I feel

as though aside from my personality and resume, my communication skills made me a top

candidate as I was able to freely converse with my interviewers in a professional manner.

Though I interviewed with many companies, I was most fond of Oracle. I ended up

accepting a Business Development Consultant position with them that starts at the end of June

2021. The feedback I received from all four people I interviewed with, along with my recruiter,

was that I was well-spoken, had an impressive background in customer and communicative

positions, and was a good listener.

This position will allow me to use my communication background to the fullest as the

majority of my time will be spent communicating with potential clients via zoom, over the

phone, and via LinkedIn, along with checking in with my team and higher-ups during the day.

Although I know many seniors are not thrilled to graduate, I find myself looking forward

to this job and future that lies ahead for me. I know that Bryant University, and especially the

Bryant Communication program have provided me with key tools to begin my communication
journey for the rest of my life. The courses, speakers, activities, and faculty have all been

excellent resources in furthering my career. I hope that in a few years from now, I will be able to

return (hopefully in person) and share my success story and how my background as a

communication major laid the groundwork for an impressive professional and personal life.