ADjacks Blog

Your Online Resume

Branding yourself online should be top-of-mind throughout college. Building a LinkedIn page is a great way to start that process. You have control of the page and can direct viewers to other sites, including your blog and online portfolio. Ron Jones just posted a great tutorial called LinkedIn 101 at ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2024165/linkedin-101. Personalize your URL so the link shows up close to the top of the search results page when someone does a Google search with your name. Make sure to connect with me and the South Dakota State University Journalism and Mass Communication group where you will find many of our alumni.

 

Advice for copywriters

Mashable's recent post, "5 Tips for Aspiring Digital Copywriters," offers a common sense approach to buiding your portfolio. The article provides advice from some of the top creatives. My favorite tip was written by Sara Williams at Made by Many. She simply states,  “For God’s sake, write!” A quick read will let you know if you are on the right track.

Join Social Media Day Local Event

Lawrence and Schiller is hosting the Sioux Fall event celebrating Mashable's Social Media Day on June 30th. For more details, visit http://www.meetup.com/Mashable/11180/. Join the event IN PERSON!

Destination: Greece

Jump in! That’s the advice MCOM major Sarah Even gives to students contemplating spending a semester abroad. She chose her last semester as an undergraduate to study at the American College in Thessaloniki, Greece. Several of her friends had studied in Greece a previous semester, but she went solo.

She says, "My biggest advice for students who are thinking about studying abroad is just jump in. At the time, being gone for four or five months sounds a little scary, but you will end up wishing that you had more time. Studying abroad is such an amazing opportunity to learn new things, meet new people and travel places where you might have never gone. Being a student is the perfect time to take advantage of opportunities like this. Don't let anything hold you back.”

Visit Sarah’s “Going Greek” blog to learn about her travels, from camping in the desert in Morocco (see picture) to a school trip to Athens.

A great weekend at the District 8 NSAC Competition

We are so proud of our students! Our seniors captured second place at the Spring 2010 AAF District 8 National Student Advertising Competition on Saturday, May 1. State Farm sponsored this year's competition. They challenged students to develop a campaign that appeals to young adults age 18-25.

The team won two additional awards sponsored by Olson Advertising.

They were recognized for the "Best Creative Strategy and Execution." Presenters Kyle Halgerson, Samantha Stratman, Ashton Hofer, Mary Jo Manning and Michelle Mickelson accepted the award from Olson Advertising President Kevin DiLorenzo and Olson Talent Recruiter Camille Weas. 

Samantha Stratman won the “Best Female Presenter” award. She is shown here with Dr. Dennis Hinde. He advised the team of 27 students during his last semester before retirement. What a great send off!

A view from abroad

Should you study abroad? Yes! I think you will agree after reading the following post.

Carmela Garcia Lammers is spending the semester in Spain at the Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain. She answered a few questions via email.

Notes about a few of the pictures:

The first picture is of the entrance to the university in the city. Carmela, on the right in the second picture, says, "Two of us don't look very excited because we were in complete shock by running into pig heads outside on the street." The middle picture was taken at one of the many international dinners students have in their apartments. In the photo there are people from Hungary, Latvia, USA, France, German, Philippines, Poland, and Austria.

Why should every student go on a university exchange in another country?

Regardless of what you study, every student should experience living and studying in a different country; that is, if you like traveling and meeting new people.

Studying in a different culture gives you the opportunity to meet people not just from the states, but also from all over the world. It’s shocking how many Europeans actually stay in Europe and study abroad. Since being in Spain, I’ve made friends from Poland, Belgium, France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Argentina and many from different parts of the states. The two girls living in my apartment are both from Turkey and you learn a lot from living with people you can’t communicate very well with.

Not only do you get to meet amazing people, you also get to take classes that may not be offered in the states.

Most people may think that students with very general majors or language major can study abroad, but almost everyone can do it. I’ve met nursing majors, economics majors, political science majors, etc. The university in Murcia has a good journalism department, so a lot of the students around Europe are studying in the department and taking most of the classes I’m in.

How is the university system different there versus ours?  

The university system in Murcia, Spain, is a lot different than the university system at SDSU. It’s different in the following ways:

1. If class starts at 3:00pm or 15:00 as they say here, it doesn’t actually start until 3:15pm.
2. Don’t expect PowerPoint presentations or D2L documents. Students in Spain write down word-by-word what the teacher says and typically go back to re-write them.
3. There are no textbooks. Normally, teachers will send some notes to the building printer and students have to go buy the copies.
4. As a study abroad student, you normally show up to whatever classes you want in the beginning and don’t actually register until 3 or 4 weeks into the school year.
5. Teachers and students tend to not have a problem with arguing in class.
6. Instead of having finals last one week, finals last close to one month.
7. An unhealthy difference, but a difference, students and teachers stand outside of the buildings to smoke together and serve alcohol in the university cafeterias.
8. Unlike the US, most classes here don’t have very many tests and hardly any homework until the finals month.
9. Almost all of the students live with their parents.

Based on your experience so far, what advice do you have for students studying abroad?

I would recommend being 100% sure you want to be completely immersed in whichever language or culture you choose to study abroad in. The customs in Murcia, Spain, took some time to get used to because, for example, all the grocery stores, pharmacies and shops close from 2pm-5pm for nap time and banks close for the day after 2pm.  

Some of the students studying in Spain this semester have either loved it or hated it because they weren’t expecting to have to depend completely on another language or change customs so drastically. Some countries do speak a lot of English but in Spain, for example, hardly any of the local people speak English in the smaller college towns.   Also, make sure you make friends outside of the other students from the US. It’s easy to either meet locals in your classes or other exchange students from places around the world.  

Final Advice

The key to surviving the Spanish university system is patience. Teachers and students have a very relaxed relationship and students normally don’t expect class to start on time and for grades to be posted on time either. There is also no secrecy when it comes to grades in class. The professor for my Political Science class posts all our grades online in an excel chart with all of our names. It’s hard getting used to, but the educational system is still very good!  

Thanks for the insights Carmela. See you soon!