Portfolio Summary

When I first started attending CSU, I was a dual enrollment student who was eager to
graduate high school, and couldn’t wait to go off to college, but little did I know the college that
would open many doors and present many opportunities for me was in my hometown. I attended
Kennesaw State for a semester and was unhappy there. After doing lots of research and seeing
what each college offered, I found that Columbus State offered exactly what I was looking for.
The communications department has helped me find my love for public relations and helped me
obtain all the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in my future PR career.

Below are four assignments from four upper-level communication courses that I have
taken over my time here at Columbus State University. I chose these four courses because I feel
that they best showcase the proficiencies I have learned throughout my communications track,
Public Relations. The proficiencies that you will see demonstrated throughout my work are
research skills, adaptability, critical analysis skills, and creating effective strategic
communication messaging and campaigns. Each of the listed proficiencies plays an important
role in public relations and how the public receives and perceives my content.

Having strong research skills gives me the ability to source the information I need and
use it effectively to better communicate with my audience. It also allows me to be able to better
understand my audiences by knowing their beliefs, values, likes, and dislikes. Being adaptable is
an essential skill to have when practicing public relations. Learning to be adaptable helps grow
my ability to handle change in an ever-changing field, so whether it is updating press releases as
I get new information or keeping up with social media, it is better for me to be quick to adjust
and come up with a new plan rather than trying to make an old one work. Critical analysis skills
are also essential to public relations because it is the ability to study the facts and base my
opinion on them. Critical analysis skills will also help me to have more effective
problem-solving and decision-making skills. All three of the previous proficiencies are needed
for me to create effective strategic communication messaging and campaigns. How well I
strategically create messages and campaigns depicts how effective my communications are to the
audiences, that is why research, adaptability, and critical analysis skills are essential to public
relations. By creating effective strategic communication messaging and campaigns, my
audiences will know my purpose, goals, vision, and values without having to guess.

The first course I have chosen is Qualitative Communication Research (COMM 3157).
This course taught me research skills, its importance in communication, when to use each type of
research, and what methods to use in each situation. Second, I have chosen Communication
Theory (COMM 3256) because it demonstrates my critical analysis skills. I had to choose a
theory, analyze a movie and find examples of my theory in the movie, and write a paper on my
analysis and relate the theory to the examples I found. For my third course, I chose Crisis
Communication (COMM 4135) because my final assignment in this course demonstrates my
adaptability skills and my ability to create effective strategic communication messaging and
campaigns. My group and I were working on creating a crisis communication plan for an
ongoing crisis at the time, so not only did I have to create well throughout communication
materials, but as we got new information, I had to go back to change and update our material.
Lastly, I chose Public Relations Campaigns (COMM 4142) because it also illuminates my ability
to create effective strategic communication messaging by giving my group and me the
opportunity to partner with Paws and create a public relations campaign for them.