John's Georgia State Blog
Major: Journalism/public relations
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Graduation year: May 2008
Hobbies: Bowling, music, playing spades, video games
John's Recent Entries
My Incept Experience
Hello Everyone! As I prepare to depart from my experience at Georgia State, I often times reflect on my past experiences at Georgia State. The most memorable experience at Georgia State for me was attending Incept: New Student Orientation and then becoming an Inceptor. I met my first friend at Georgia State during the Summer of 2004 at an Incept Conference. Brandon and I have been friends since we met at the Incept Conference and quite frankly if it wasn’t for Incept I may not have had the opportunity to have a true friend at Georgia State that I could call brother. Incept is an all-day affair but the conference is very valuable because it allows students to meet with Academic Advisors, register for classes, as well as meet with Financial Aid counselors. The most memorable experience I had with being a student at Incept was interacting with Orientation Leaders that were called Inceptors. The Inceptors cheered, gave us tours, as well as gave us advice about being an incoming college student. I was inspired by the Inceptors and in January 2005 I had the opportunity to become an Inceptor. I was selected along with 24 others and had to go through 4 months of rigorous training. We had to learn a lot of information so that we would be prepared to interact with students and guests at the Orientations. I felt good about learning the information because attending college is more than just taking classes. College is about networking and having the opportunity to learn about the institution you have attended for four or more years. My Inceptor experience allowed me to meet and network with a lot of people that were attending the school in the upcoming school year. The experience also allowed me to give something back that was given to me. I enjoyed my experience so I had the chance to help someone else enjoy their experience.
My Inceptor experience allowed me to develop a bond with 24 other students at Georgia State. We ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the day of Incept Conferences as well as lived in the same building with each other over the summer. I will never forget the 24 people that helped make my Georgia State Experience that much greater. The best moment of being an Inceptor was probably attending the Southern Regional Orientation Workshop(SROW) in Clemson, South Carolina.
Orientation teams from the Southeast all came together to cheer and represent their school in skits, cheer competitions, and leadership exercises. My Incept Team had the opportunity to win the 1st Place Spirit Award in the Spirit Competition. We were the first team to win the 1st Place Spirit Award for Georgia State and we were very proud of ourselves. My words of advice to college students is to become involved and enjoy your college experience because going to class only will result in negative attitudes towards school and possibly the University. I wish everyone the best of luck at Georgia State and remember to attend Incept because you just might meet your best friend like I did at Incept.
My Final Semester
Hello Everyone! I am writing to you to let you know how my final semester is going. I am taking 6 classes and it is challenging me for the most part. I love my classes because they are interesting and have really great professors. One of my favorite classes is my Terrorism as Communication class. The class is a special topics course where the course is based on a particular issue. I thought it was interesting to enroll in because when people hear the word terrorism they don’t think from the start that it invovles communication. I feel that after taking this course, I would know a little bit more about how a terrorist thinks or communicates to achieve a certain goal. Our typical class is usually sitting in class and answering questions our professor poses to us or debating with each other about a specific belief. I love to talk and express my ideas so you can understand why this is one of my favorite classes. One of my other classes I enjoy attending is my Strategic Planning class. I am taking this course because I am a Public Relations major and learning to plan strategically about a particular problem is very important in most careers. My professor usually finds a company that is having complications with a particular area of the company every semester and has her class create a strategic plan to solve the problem. This semester, we are developing a strategic plan for The Hartsfield Jackson Executive Conference Center. We were divided into teams that researched on the marketing/pr of the company, the operations management of the facility, and the competition the conference center faced. I am really enjoying this class because it allows us to help someone else and its unique. I have never had a class where you try to change a corporations strategy or marketing plan, but this course allows us to possibly accomplish that. Monday will mark the 5th week of school and I have already completed two papers, a presentation, a quiz, and I will have another presentation on the 11th. I am a little overwhelmed with all the work from school and the stress from working, but I know that I will succeed. I have enjoyed this semester so far and I hope that I will feel the same after May 10, 2008.
The 1913 Society & 2007 Fall Semester Graudation
Hello Everyone! On December 16, 2007, I had the honor to serve as an ambassador for Georgia State University at the 2007 Fall Semester Commencement Ceremony at the Georgia Dome. This was the first time that Georgia State University’s graduation was held at the Georgia Dome. I believe the ceremony went very well. I started my day off at about 9:00 am and we didn’t leave until about 5 pm. The organization that allowed me this great opportunity was The 1913 Society. We are a group of about 15 ambassadors that represent Georgia State University at different events and programs. I have been in The 1913 Society for two years now and I have enjoyed my time as an ambassador for Georgia State. At the Graduation Ceremony, we did everything from directing guests on where to go to cleaning up after the ceremony. I felt proud and very important because I was actually a part of history and I was actually walking on the field that the Atlanta Falcons play football on. I had a lot of friends graduating this semester from Georgia State and I felt that they had a great ceremony. The speaker was great and the streamers were the best part of the ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, the Dome fired blue and white streamers in the air to help graduates celebrate their great accomplishment. I felt kind of emotional as well, because I knew that I would be in the next class of seniors sitting on the field of the Georgia Dome in May. I had a great time at the event, and if it wasn’t for the 1913 Society I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the ceremony first hand and see how a graduation ceremony was operated. I do hope that you get involved once you come to Georgia State because it will help you enjoy your college experience more and it will help you to be a well-rounded student.
Fall Semester 2007
Hello Everyone! I just recently finished my last fall semester as an undergraduate student. I believe that this has been one of my best semesters at Georgia State because I was more focused on my school work. I was enrolled in 5 classes while working at The Coca-Cola Museum as well. I enrolled in one journalism class, 3 hospitality classes, and one elective course. I do feel that this was one of my more easier semesters because I have completed all of my prerequisite courses. I am honored to have made the Dean’s List this semester with a 3.6 Grade Point Average for the semester. I obtained 1 A, 2 A-s, and 2 B+s. I have set a goal for myself, which is to bring my Grade Point Average up to a 3.2 by the time I graduate in May. I know it will take a lot of hard work and dedication, but I believe it can be done. I was one of the few students to only have two exams during finals week because most students had at least 3 finals during finals week. The reason I had only two exams during finals is because most of my classes required the students to create a presentation and paper as a final exam or final project. I am not a fan of taking tests, so this semester worked out in my favor. I am currently enjoying my last winter break as an undergraduate and I look forward to my last semester of my undergraduate career. I will have a heavy load in the Spring because I need 18 credits to receive my degree in May. I will be taking 6 classes that will include two journalism classes, 3 hospitality classes, and one elective. I have loved my time at Georgia State and I will continue to enjoy what is left of my undergraduate career.
Why I chose Georgia State University?
My name is John, but I am known around campus as John B. I am currently a senior at Georgia State University and I am very excited to begin this blog experience with you. I applied to Georgia State only and I am pretty happy with the decision I made in December 2003. I also knew that I didn’t want to leave my family in Atlanta and pay a lot of money for school, so Georgia State was the best fit for me. I attended North Atlanta High School with a mindset of wanting to learn more about different races/cultures. My high school was very diverse and I enjoyed meeting people from different countries, cities, and nationalities. I knew that I wanted to attend a college with a similar atmosphere. Georgia State was the perfect school because it is in the heart of downtown Atlanta, it has students coming from more than 150 countries around the world, and it has a student coming from every county in Georgia. I also like to be unique and Georgia State is not like many traditional colleges. I originally was a business major for the first two months of my first semester, but changed to Public Relations because I love talking to people. I love Georgia State because it is in the heart of downtown Atlanta and there is always something to do. I have gone bowling, skating, played pool, and eaten at a number of restaurants, etc. I never realized how big Georgia State was until now. Now that I am a senior, I rarely see friends around campus and when I do see them it is like maybe one or two months at a time. In a way, I like this because I am more excited to see friends that I haven’t seen in a while. I have loved my experience and wouldn’t change it for nothing in the world!!!