Weekend of Performances

How did you spend your weekend? I spent mine mostly at performances! On Saturday morning,

my mom and I went to go see my cousin perform in her high school musical. She was an Ancestor

in The Addams Family. I have seen The Addams Family musical be performed by a high school

before and I really enjoyed it, but that was several years ago so I was looking forward to watching

it again. The cast was really talented and all of the main characters were strong singers. If you

know next to nothing about musicals, I would recommend you check out The Addams Family if

you ever have a chance. It has a fun plot and plenty of jokes that are targeted to a more mature

audience, yet it is still appropriate for teens to perform.

I was really proud of my cousin because I know she put a lot of hard work, time, and effort into

being a part of this production. As someone who has been involved in productions before, I

understand how much it takes to make the show the best final product it can be. I am happy

she enjoyed herself and she plans on being in the musical again next year.

On Sunday, I went to the 13th International Play Festival at Ohio Northern University. The play this

year was Hayavadana, which drew from old Sanskrit stories. The plot was about two best friends

who were so close they were like brothers, but they both fall for the same girl. I will not spoil the

plot but it was certainly an entertaining story.

I was not expecting to know most of the cast in Hayavadana. Many of the performers were

freshman musical theater majors and several of them are in my Modern 1 dance class. I also

knew a few older musical theater majors from my Tap 1 dance class I took last semester. The

play was even more enjoyable because the students who were involved in it.

Lastly, on Sunday night I attended the Symphony Concert. Several of my friends and now Tau

Beta Sigma sisters play in the Symphony so I went to support them. The Symphony played

Antonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony. It was fun to listen to that piece because the marching

band played an excerpt of it for our halftime show last season.

Hans Utter played the sitar, a traditional Indian instrument, with the Symphony for several songs. He

played during intermission as well. The ONU Gospel Choir also performed during the concert and

they sang a few songs while the Symphony provided backing music.

Overall it was a weekend well spent. I love to go to performing arts productions because I like

to support the arts. I enjoy watching live productions and listening to live music, plus I think it

is important to support your friends and family in their passions.

How I got to hold a World Series Ring

PRSSA is short for Public Relations Student Society of America and ONU has our own

chapter. PRSSA meetings are held every Thursday night at 7 pm. We discuss upcoming

projects, events, and activities relating to public relations. One other key component of

PRSSA meetings are guest speakers. Professionals who work in public relations, social media,

marketing, or a related field come to a meeting and present about their job and past experiences.

This is beneficial to students because we can learn from what professionals have already done,

make connections with them, and use information from their presentation when thinking about

future internship or job opportunities.

Last week our guest speaker was Kevin Saghy, an ONU Alum who graduated in 2007. He is also

my PRSSA mentor. Kevin Saghy started off his public relations career as the 2006-2007 PRSSA

National President while still attending ONU. His first job out of college was at Ketchum, a

well-known public relations firm located in Chicago. He worked there for several years then

applied for a social media position at the Chicago Cubs. Kevin landed the job and worked at

the Chicago Cubs for eight years. Now he has moved back home to Ohio and has been with

the Ohio State University, working on their social media team for over a year.

Kevin’s discussion was mostly about his time at the Chicago Cubs. He said that there were some

surreal moments, like when the Chicago Cubs won the 2016 World Series. He talked about how

the good times came with the hard times and that there were long hours and late nights throughout

the season. As a student it was refreshing to get an inside look on that kind of job at such a

high-profile organization. Being a social media manager sounds exciting, but he said that it was

not all fun and games and there were plenty of times that the stress got to him.

Kevin was one of the most exciting speakers who has come to a PRSSA meeting to present and

I am thankful he took time out of his busy schedule to talk with us. Kevin surprised us by bringing

his World Series ring from when Chicago won the championship. He let us hold it and take pictures

with it. I am not the biggest baseball fan, but I can certainly appreciate the magnitude that the 2016

World Series had for both Chicago and Cleveland.

I go to take a few pictures after the meeting:

All in all, it was the most memorable and exciting PRSSA meeting I have been to.

Chapter 3 Reading

This week in Principles of Social Media we were assigned to read Chapter 3-Personal

and Professional Branding. Each chapter begins with an interview from someone who

has experience working in social media.

The interview for this chapter was with Chris Strub. One of the quotes from him that stuck

with me was “Your brand isn’t what you say it is; it is what the public perceives it to be.”

This is a powerful statement for both personal and professional branding. The statement

puts a lot of pressure on you as an individual or on brand’s to stay on top of working on

maintaining and building a positive public image. While I do agree with this statement to

an extent, I believe that part of your identity is what you the individual or what the brand

says they are to be. Ideally the brand’s image of what they picture themselves to be should

be reflected so that the public pictures them in the same light.

Especially when browsing through personal accounts/brands on Instagram, it is important

to not lose track of what is real life. Instagram is a place where brands post the best snapshots

of a person’s life. It can be easy to get caught up in the mix and compare yourself and your life

to these seemingly “perfect” lives of influencers and account holders. Instagram brands typically

are filled with posts from the best parts of the operator’s life and that is perfectly fine. But when

making a personal perception about someone just based off of their Instagram account, it is

crucial to keep in mind that those posts are only snapshots of their life.

I believe one of the biggest challenges in creating a personal brand is standing out from the

crowd by being unique but also relevant and consistent to your voice. There are so many

social medias brand vying for the attention of viewers and followers that it can be difficult to

stand out. This reminds me of when I have trouble with content creation on this blog. Sometimes

I do not know what to write about because I do not know what will be unique and still interesting

to viewers. It will remain a challenge for now but it is something I am constantly working on,

much like other personal and professional brands are working on every day.

Live-tweeting at Relay for Life

One of our assignments for Social Media Principles is to live-tweet an event.

I have never live-tweeted an event before so this was a new challenge for me.

According to our assignment guidelines, an effective live-tweet session had to be

at least 45 minute long, include at least one retweet, a visual, and relevant updates

on the event. Relay for Life would cover all of those points so I figured it would be a

good event to do!

Relay for Life is an annual event put on by Colleges Against Cancer to raise money

for cancer research. Different campus organizations create teams to support the event.

Over eight thousand dollars were raised for the American Cancer Society.

I knew I would already be at Relay for my team Tau Beta Sigma so it would be convenient

for me to cover it. Relay for Life is a unique event as well because it only happens once a

year. It seemed like an interesting topic to cover that was different from an athletic event.

There were different groups that performed and activities that went on to tweet and take

pictures of so I did not run out of material.

The Luminaria ceremony was an emotional part of the night. We honored those who have

battled or are currently battling cancer by lighting luminarias and glow sticks while silently

walking around the track. Cancer has affected everyone in some way, shape, or form. My

family, teachers, and loved ones have had to fight this awful disease. I have seen the

repercussions it has had on survivors and wish that no one would ever have to fight that

battle again.

On the bright side, @RelayforLife liked a few of my tweets! How cool is that for someone

who has minimal Twitter experience? My Twitter account is @JcClagg if you want to check

out my live-tweet session from this weekend!

Norada Nights

Every college has their own traditions, folklore, townspeople, and hot spots that make it

unique from others. My hometown of Findlay has George House Coffee and Tea, a

small-business coffee shop just across the street from the University of Findlay that

attracts many Oiler customers and local high school students.

While in high school, I remember going on a tour to Miami University and I asked the

student tour guide where the best place to eat was. She suggested Bagel and Deli Shop,

a small, local sandwich shop that sold sandwiches on bagel buns. Needless to say, I did

not end up going to Miami University and missed out on the awesome sandwiches. Every

once in a while I’ll have a moment when I wish I lived in Oxford just to eat the sandwiches,

but other priorities outweighed the perks of Bagel and Deli and Miami University. I am

continuously happy with my home at Ohio Northern University, not to mention the

occasional chips and salsa snack at El Campo.

Food isn’t the only way a college town can be unique. About two miles from Ohio

Northern University’s campus lies Norada Lanes. This past Friday night was the

first time I had ever stopped in there and at ten o’clock, the place was hopping. If

you are traveling south on State Route 235 to get to Ohio Northern University, you

have to pass Norada Lanes before you arrive in town. I pass the bowling alley every

time I come to Northern and finally made the point of going there with a few friends.

Norada is an eight-lane bowling alley complete with your typical bowling alley fare,

a jukebox, some tunes, a pool table, and some arcade games. Spending Friday night

exploring a local hangout is something I will definitely make a point to do again. Norada

was pretty inexpensive as well and cost me less than ten dollars for a few hours of fun.

There should be an unofficial list that every student who attends Ohio Northern University

should do by the time they graduate. One of these tasks should be spending a night at Norada Lanes.

Chapter 1 Reading

This week we started reading a new textbook called “Social Media for Strategic Communication”

by Karen Freberg. Our assigned reading was Chapter 1: Introduction to Social Media-An Art and Science.

One part of the textbook says “social media has matured and become a staple in our global

society”. I believe this to be true because so many people worldwide are connected to social

media. Brands need to have social media accounts so that they can interact with their target publics.

When brands have social media accounts they are expected to respond to dialogue and interact

with social media users who tag or talk about them. This is an instantaneous form of communication

and that is something that brands are still adapting to. Brands want to aim for positive interaction

with consumers in any media form but with social media there are so many factors to consider.

What platform do you use, what video or image do you include, what time do you post, what words

or language do you use in your post, who are you trying to connect with? Social media is a much

more personalized way of communicating a brand’s story to an audience.

One of the reasons why people love social media so much is because of how visual it can be.

Images and videos are used by everyone, from the average user, popular influencer, or company

to transport viewers into the eyes of the camera. Traditionally brands have communicated their

story through radio or television advertisements. Depending on what demographic a brand wants

to reach, it may not be wise to heavily invest in producing a television commercial. In some

demographics television ratings are declining because people are consuming media through

different avenues. A television ad is only good for a 30 or 60 second spot and it is easy to miss

it. Especially if a brand is trying to target Gen Z, they probably want to put more thought and

effort into utilizing social media to tell their story.

If a brand uses social media, they have the potential to be present on everyone’s feed. A brand’s

social media account can beam their message into the personal screens of social media users

no matter what the time of day. Brands may choose to include short videos in their accounts but

that is not the only way they can choose to communicate their message. They can include witty

captions, visually appealing photos, create posts that generate interaction and post links that

relate to the brand.

When I search for a brand I am not familiar with online I look for their website. If their website

is either nonexistent or not user-friendly, I will migrate over to social media platforms to see if

they have crucial information posted. I am much more likely to form an opinion and take my

business to a brand that has an online presence over one that does not. Social media is an

easy opportunity for brands to educate the public about their story and what they do. It does

not cost money to post on social media platforms and it is an effective way of getting exposure,

so why would brands not invest in social media?

Expect the Unexpected

Quit trying to predict all of the things you will do. There is something that you will do in six

months, one year or even ten years from now that you have never heard about or considered

\doing just yet.

Exactly one year ago I was a high school senior. I still had not decided on where I would

be attending college. I started to get more and more anxious because the majority of my

senior class peers knew where their homes would be in the fall. I was weighing my options

every day and considered financial aid, distance, school size, transferable credits and more

into my decision making algorithm.

Later on in the spring I decided on attending Ohio Northern University for a multitude of

reasons. I knew it would be very possible to try band and after some research, going to

Summer Orientation and listening to how easy it was to join my decision to try it was made.

All summer I was so excited (and a little nervous) to get marching band started up again.

I got to move in a week early and that was so helpful because I got an extra week to get

acquainted to campus. By the time the rest of the incoming freshman and returning students

arrived, I already knew students from every college and every year.

Before starting college I was very apprehensive of sororities and fraternities. I did not

know much about them but they did not seem like something I would be interested in.

I found out that there are national band service sororities and fraternities that exist on

campus. Tau Beta Sigma is the sorority and Kappa Kappa Psi is the fraternity, although

both are co-ed. Some of my newest (and currently closest) friends are in those organizations.

I never would have been able to predict that because I had no idea that there was such a

thing as a “band service sorority”. Since I had no idea that those organizations existed,

there is no way I could have predicted that I would have fit in so well with them.

From the first week of band camp I was drawn to members of Tau Beta Sigma. Several

members of my section are in TBS and I felt really comfortable with them. I hoped early

on that I could eventually become a member of TBS and help the band become even better.

Fast forward a few months and recruiting events later to the present day and I have

officially completed First Degree of Tau Beta Sigma! This weekend we had a ceremony

and I received my Big Sister! She is one of my closest friends and I am so excited she is my Big.

I am eager to move forward in the upcoming steps to become a full member of Tau Beta

Sigma, which will happen in just a short month.

You never know what life is going to offer you. Do not close yourself off to new experiences

because you never know what you may miss.

Interview with Sarah James, Media Specialist

I spoke with Sarah James, a multimedia specialist and social media manager here at Ohio Northern University. She is a recent college graduate from Ball State University so it was especially interesting and insightful to talk with her about her job.

I asked her some questions about:

• How she got into social media.
• Relevant platforms she uses at this job
• Job tasks and skills
• Working for a college brand
• Advice for students

She was super friendly and helpful in answering questions. If you are interested in working in media then I would talk to her! She can especially relate to us college students because she just graduated last year.

You can listen to our conversation with this link!

Choreographers' Showcase

Ohio Northern University celebrated 25 years of the Dance Department this weekend with the Choreographers’ Showcase.

The week leading up to the performance was extremely busy because it was Tech Week. Rehearsals had extended hours and towards the end of the week we held several dress

rehearsals and full show run-throughs. All the work was totally worth the final product!

Last year at this time I was unsure of where I would be attending college. I had never felt certain

that I would have the chance to dance outside of high school. Little did I know I would

perform on stage so soon after graduation!

Auditions for the Choreographers’ Showcase were in December so the process of the

production has been in the works for a little while. A sample of choreography was taught to

the entire group of prospective dancers. After the choreography was taught, the potential

cast was split into about five to seven groups. These groups would perform the choreography usually no more than ten minutes after it was introduced. Choreographers would decide

who they liked in each group, scribbled some notes and the process began for the next choreographer.

I was selected to be in an Indian folk dance choreographed by Mansee Singhi. The piece

consisted of a medley of four songs but the entire dance lasted less than five minutes. The costumes were vibrant, colorful and very fun to dance in. This was probably one of my

favorite costumes because it was so eye-catching and bright.

The other dance I was cast in was choreographed by Brenda Hoyt-Brackman. It was entitled “Gathering of Spirits” and it was done to honor Laurie Bell, who is retiring from the Dance Department after many years. This piece was a lyrical or contemporary style of dance. It was especially unique because dancers included current ONU students, ONU Alumni, Laurie Bell and her daughter. The costumes were loose pants and flowing tank tops. The current ONU students were dressed in teal, purple and navy while the alumni were dressed

in red and yellow. I wish I had pictures to share of the performers on stage but I do not have

access to the photos yet.

Going through the process of being in the Choreographers’ Showcase is something that I

will treasure. It was fun to learn and perform two totally different style pieces in front of an

audience.

The cast and crew of the production has taken down the set and the process is now fully

completed. I am already looking forward to next year’s Showcase!