RA Interview

College students have lots of options to consider if they want to get more involved

on campus. There are varsity and intramural athletics, musical ensembles, Greek

life groups, religious organizations, service clubs, pre-professional groups, and

more to explore. A student can also choose to be a part of ResLife and apply to

become a Resident Assistant, or RA.

Last Sunday was the interview day for potential Resident Assistants for the

2019-2020 academic year. Dress for the event was professional attire and the

day lasted about three hours.

The interview day consisted of individual interviews, group interviews, and a

discussion with the three staff members from ResLife.

There were about sixty-four or sixty-five applicants for a total of about thirty-two

to thirty-four spots. The advantage went to the boys because their proportion of

applicants to spots open was lower than the girls.

This day was a big deal because the position was completely on the line. Applicants

submitted an online application, went to the interview day, and the decision will be

made from those two components. There is no second interview. Applicants have

a month-long wait ahead, and in all honesty I feel like the wait will be harder than

the actual application process.

This interview event is important outside of the Resident Assistant aspect. The day

was set up in a similar format that employers may use in their hiring process. Basically,

it was a full-on job interview in every aspect, from the dress code required

to the actual interview process to the importance of the position.

At the very least, I can say that I put myself out there and gained that extra experience

that will hopefully benefit me when I am applying for internships or jobs. Even if I do

not receive the position the whole process was certainly not a waste of time because

now I have that experience under my belt. At the very best, I will have earned the

position and gained the experience.

As an RA I would meet so many new people and be the liaison between Ohio Northern

University and its students. This is a job that I am excited to do and I hope I get the

chance to do it!

#Hashtags

This week, Chapter 7 of Guy Kawaski’s book “The Art of Social Media” was assigned as

our reading. The chapter was entitled “How to Socialize Events” and gave a lot of helpful

tips. I will share my favorite one with you!

In Chapter 7, the usage of hashtags was discussed. Multiple social media platforms

use hashtags, from image-focused Instagram to text-based Twitter and of course

Facebook. The book described how to choose a hashtag, and their advice was to

keep it short and generic. It needs to be short so people can easily remember it

and actually use it. The hashtag should not be something too specific or time-expirable.

This advice on hashtags can be applied to something that is not necessarily a public

event attended by many. For example, I could apply these tips while covering an

ONU PRSSA firm trip on social media. I would want to use the hashtag #ONUPRSSA

as opposed to #ONUPRSSAFirmTripChicago.

Keeping to just the hashtag #ONUPRSSA will pull up all of the events and trips

that ONU PRSSA does (as long as the other posts included the hashtag). If someone

is interested in learning about what other activities ONU PRSSA engages in, all they

would have to do is search the one hashtag #ONUPRSSA. This creates ease for the

user so they can view everything with ONU PRSSA. Viewers do not and will not go

out of their way to dig for a very specific hashtag.

#ONUPRSSA is already a mouthful already, so why add to the mess by adding

extra words when creating a hashtag? I want to keep #ONUPRSSA together

because there are many chapters of PRSSA and Ohio Northern University can

be a varied source of content as well.

Let’s say I was creating a post.

This is how I would incorporate hashtags:

#ONUPRSSA #ONU #Chicago

Instead of:

#ONUPRSSAFirmTripChicago

The focus should be on ONU first because our chapter is a representative and

extension of the university. PRSSA should be next because that is specifically

who we are in ONU. That is lengthy enough to say, so that would be one hashtag.

A second hashtag could be just a simple #ONU. When someone searches tags

that are #ONU, they will see a wide range of posts dealing with athletics,

admissions, the arts, and other campus organizations. When someone is looking

at what ONU is involved in, PRSSA will now be on their screen, which of course

gives the chapter more exposure.

Lastly, a third hashtag that could be used is #Chicago. It is more of a fun hashtag

and that is why it is last. It is also the least important in terms of brand exposure,

since there are just so many posts that tag Chicago.

One thing that I do not believe the book mentioned was the number of hashtags.

I would keep the number of hashtags used to be a handful at max, because too

many hashtags to look at is overwhelming for the reader.

Do you have any thoughts on the use of hashtags?

PRSSA Meeting

Ohio Northern University’s PRSSA chapter holds a meeting every Thursday. PRSSA

stands for Public Relations Student Society of America and the group exists to help

prepare students for a future career in public relations.

I will admit, at first last week I was not very excited to go to PRSSA. I was busy all

day and it was just another check off of my list of to-dos.

This past week there was a guest speaker at the meeting, which is always the best

part of PRSSA, so my mood shifted once I arrived. I love to listen to professionals

speak about their experiences and jobs because it gives me some insight on my

future career. It gets me brainstorming about what kind of brands and industries

I would like to work at some day.

The guest speaker last week was Siera Bruggeman, Digital Media Manager at

AR Marketing in Findlay. She told us about her college career and how she changed

majors, career focus, and universities multiple times. Hearing a now-successful

professional tell her story of how she was once an unsure college student helped

me. I have heard over again that it is okay to not know where you are going. I cannot

help but to question if I am in the right major, if I am taking the right classes, if what I

am doing now is enough to prepare me for a real job and a career. I think every

college student relates to that uncertainty at some point or another.

Siera shared that she wanted to continue her passions in her adult life. Today she

loves her job and has several side hustles. I completely relate to wanting to continue

my passions in my adult life. In a few years after graduation, I may not pursue my

passions in the exact same way as I am now. My passions should not be lost, but

rather expanded upon and explored. I want to find a job in which its mission and

goals align with my morals and passions.

Siera’s story was truthful and that is why it hit home for me. She was unafraid to discuss

her failures and I admire Siera for sharing her story in an honest way. Siera, if this ever

finds you, thank you for making a positive impact on my mindset.

The moral of the story is, go to your PRSSA meetings. There is bound to be another

time when a meeting or class rolls around and you are not excited to attend. When

you are weighing your options, to go or not to go, think about the potential information

you may miss. Any information is good information because it will help shape your

viewpoint and attitude. It is almost always worthwhile to show up. This time I gained

reassurance and a renewed hope for my future career. What have you gained this week?

Eggcelent! An egg wins the first few weeks of 2019.

I was trying to come up with a subject for this social media-related post and I kept coming
back to one of the newest viral posts.

If you are on Instagram at all, chances are you have heard of the newest viral sensation.
It’s almost this year’s equivalent of the color of the dress, although not quite so controversial.

World_Record_Egg has achieved the most likes on a photo posted to Instagram,

beating out Kylie Jenner’s photo of her baby. The egg has received over fifty million

likes and has over eight million followers, while Kylie Jenner has one hundred and

twenty four million followers and her most-liked photo has over eighteen million likes.

World_Record_Egg overachieved on its goal of beating Kylie Jenner’s picture.

I think partly why World_Record_Egg’s post went so viral was because there were

so many people who disliked the fact that Kylie Jenner had the most liked post on

Instagram. Instagram users found humor in the simplicity of a single egg beating

one of the world’s most famous celebrities. Once the egg caught on, it almost

becomes a social thing to go and like World_Record_Egg’s post so that you too

can be a part of breaking the record.

I looked up this viral trend on Google and came across a Forbes article about how

this post relates to Generation Z.

I consider myself a member of Gen Z. When I think millennials, I think of people who

are close to thirty years old and have to worry about adult things like purchasing/renting a

house and a career. That’s not me. I am nineteen, just started my college career, and do

not have to worry about those sort of things quite yet. For the next few years,

college will be full of Gen Z-ers.

Companies and brands attempting to market towards Generation Z, the answer does

not lie in inanimate objects. The author is on point when she says humor is the way to

go. It cannot be a forced humor and must be genuine and at least partly original.

Be sure to check out the article if you have not already.

Hello, nice to meet you!

My name is Jordan Clagg and I am a public relations major from Findlay, Ohio!

This is my first year at Ohio Northern University and so far I am loving my choice of college.
The class that I am writing this blog for, Social Media Principles, is part of the core courses
I must take to complete my public relations major. This is also my first class taught by Aggie,
so wish me luck because I have a few more of her classes to take :)

At Ohio Northern University, I have the opportunity to pursue a Bachelor of Arts
and continue with my passion for participating in the performing arts. I love listening to
and making music. I played the piccolo in the Ohio Northern University Marching Band
this past fall. Now that football season is over, I will be performing in the Symphonic
and Pep bands for the current semester.

Here is a picture of my amazing piccolo section! This was taken right before we marched
in a parade for Ada's annual Harvest and Herb Festival.

I also love to dance and decided on pursing a dance minor! My dance minor includes

courses in ballet, modern, choreography, dance and culture, and other dance technique

electives such as tap or jazz. So far, I completed Tap 1 during the fall and this spring semester

I am taking Modern 1.

In December, I auditioned for the Choreographer’s Showcase and fortunately was cast in two dances.

One song is called "Gathering of Spirits" and the dance is choreographed by Brenda Hoyt-Brackman.

It is a farewell/celebration in honor of Laurie Bell, who has been a faculty member of the ONU

Dance Company for many years and is now retiring. The other dance I will be performing in

is an Indian-inspired piece taught by guest choreographer Mansee Singhi. Rehearsals for the dances

have been underway for almost a week now and I am excited for the performance to arrive!

The Choreographer’s Showcase is on Saturday, February 2 at 7:00 pm and Sunday, February 3

at 2:00 pm. If you are interested, tickets can be purchased at the Freed Center box office or online.

I am eager to pursue my second, newly developed minor, which is leadership studies. One of the
core classes to accomplish the minor is Introduction to Leadership Studies. There are mostly
upperclassmen in Intro; in fact, I am the only first-year student. This course is being offered for the
first time this semester and is taught by Kathie Fleck, head of the leadership studies minor and
public relations professor. Within the week one of class, I have learned that there is a leadership
shortage in today’s companies and brands. My goal before the end of Intro is to gain more
knowledge on how to refine my leadership skills so that I can help fill that gap in the future.

Stay tuned to hear more about my adventures at ONU and other interesting PR/social media topics.
Thank you for checking out my first post!