I am so thankful to be blessed with such a great 'family'...the AUburn Family!
My last home game as a student was a great success!!! So proud to be part of the Auburn Family. There is truly nothing more special than sitting with 87,000+ people 25 minutes after the game has ended--everyone still cheering just as loud as they were during the game--watching the players run to the stands and jump in the stands while the band continues to play (STILL no one is leaving) WAR DAMN EAGLE.
...o ya! and seeing the whole student section link arms and sing the Alma Mater (no band playing)
No one can explain the tradition and 'Auburn Experience' until they have been here, met the people and participated... this article from the Montgomery Advertiser just strengthens my pride in my school and the team that is representing us on the field--
This continues to pump me up. It is the student section during the tunnel video (pregame) at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. The student section goes CRAZY to the video ("All we do is win!"), then the AU football team takes the field. It's so thrilling and an experience you can't explain unless you are there. The energy and excitement gives me chills every time and with this game being against the also undefeated (at the time) LSU Tigers, the crowd was louder and more intense than ever! War Damn Eagle!
Soooo... I definitely haven't updated my blog lately because I got so busy with school towards the end of the semester, and then I came straight to the beautiful Destin, Fla., to start my internship which I LOVE! My PR projects kept me busy right up until summer and one main project was the website that I designed. It is my digital resume and portfolio. All of my major projects and samples of my work are on the site. One other main project I was working on was a PR campaign for the city of Valley, Ala. I have included it in my site as well. My site has been live for about a month now, but I welcome and appreciate any feedback. There is a contact page where you can leave comments and contact me. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Shaye Smith *This story was written as one of my weekly class assignments and published on The Corner News.
To some people, Firehouse Subs may be known for it's Hook and Ladder combination or it's "Fully Loaded" sandwiches, but to the Opelika Fire Department, Firehouse Subs means something different.
On March 1, at 3:30 p.m., Firehouse Subs in Opelika and their non-profit Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation donated $18,000 worth of life-saving equipment to the Opelika Fire Department.
The Foundation donated five Motorola portable radios which will increase the safety of the firefighters because it will provide radio communication during fire operations.
"The radios are equipped with a 'firefighter down' button which automatically sends a distress signal direct to the 911 center," said Opelika Fire Chief Terry Adkins. "These radios will greatly increase the personal safety of the firefighters and will allow them to be in direct contact with other firefighters, the incident commander and the dispatch center."
Attendees at the event included Reed Compton, Opelika Firehouse Subs franchisee, Chris Holmes, Firehouse Subs area representative, Meghan Bender, Firehouse Subs Community program manager, Opelika Fire Chief Terry Adkins, Captain Ashley Harmon, firefighters Lieutenant Stephens, Allmond and Johnson, paramedics Brown and Smith, and nearby Firehouse Subs General Manager Ashly Shannon.
"The Foundation fills needs for different fire departments," Compton said. "We knew we had the funds available and we approached the Opelika Fire Department to see if they had any needs."
Compton explained that the funds that were raised to donate the five radios came from individual donations, pickle bucket sales and canisters placed by registers that explain the non-profit's mission and collect money for the Foundation.
"We are all about giving them tools to improve the community," said Compton. "It's all about safety and response time. You can't help but to make their jobs easier."
Chief Adkins who has been fire chief in Opelika since 1996 and with the Opelika Fire Department for 44 years is appreciative that these radios were made available at a time when the economy is tight, and said," Without the help of Firehouse Subs, we wouldn't have been able to supply our firefighters with this equipment right now."
Firehouse Subs, founded in Jacksonville, Fla., by former firefighting brothers Chris and Robin Sorenson, is a 379-unit fast-casual restaurant chain. Firehouse Subs offers over-sized portions of premium hand-sliced meats and cheeses, steamed to make the flavors burst, then piled high with fresh produce atop a toasted sub roll. The restaurants reflect the authentic firefighter heritage, as well as the founding family's 200 years of firefighting service. In 2005, the company created The Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, Inc. to provide funding to deserving local fire departments. Since its inception, the Foundation has donated more than $1.75 million in equipment and resources. Firehouse Subs was also named "National Chain" winner of the National Restaurant Association's (NRA) Restaurant Neighbor Award for their overall dedication to community service. The 2010 plans for expansion include the Northeast, Central and Southwest regions of the U.S.
In 2005, Firehouse Subs extended their mission with the creation of the non-profit, Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to improving the life-saving capabilities of emergency services in communities served by Firehouse Subs by providing funding, resources and support to deserving public safety entities. Through the non-profit 501 (c) (3), Firehouse Subs is able to give back to those hometown heroes who protect our local communities by providing funding, resources and support.
Growing up the daughter of a wonderful woman who has done everything from Graphics Design to Public Relations and Marketing, (and who can talk to a brick wall if she has to), I found it very easy declaring a major upon my freshman year at Auburn University.
I am the oldest of three kids, and I have definitely acquired many of my mother's social and communication skills. They just come naturally to me. I can also talk to a brick wall if I had to, and even in high school I knew I wanted to do Public Relations--at the time, though, I was unsure exactly what it was called.
I declared my major at Camp War Eagle (the camp that all incoming AU freshman attend the summer after graduating high school), and it has been a crazy ride ever since the first day of class.
Public Relations as a profession often times gets a bad rep because a few people have messed it up for everyone. Many people view it as a profession that lies and bends the truth to make a company, client or product look better. Little do they know, that's not what it is at all... but there are those people (in ANY profession) who can ruin it for everyone.
I remember back in high school, I was in a pageant interview, and I got asked some kind of question about what I wanted to do when I grew up. Well, of course I knew I wanted to do PR but at the time, I didn't understand how some people viewed it. So my response was something about how I wanted to do PR for a non-profit organization or some company that helps people (I have since changed what type of PR since this interview). When one of the lady judges was quick to snap back with, "Well how can you do good in a company that is supposed to help people if all PR is, is a bunch of lies?" Well lady judge, you had me speechless at this point in time, and maybe because I wasn't quick to respond with a brilliant answer, that hurt my score for the pageant. I was happy with my outcome at that pageant though, but I think more than being happy about how I placed among the other girls, I was challenged to find out more about why that lady judge had said what she said. Maybe she was trying to offend me or maybe she had a bad experience with PR, but it sure did lead me to search for the answer to many questions and research more about PR. After that challenge, I knew it was for me.
So here I am today, a senior at Auburn University majoring in public relations with a focus in marketing. Many people that meet me after knowing my mom think it's because I'm her daughter. Well, maybe I acquired her communication skills and her outlook on situations, but PR is just so fascinating and it's a different type of problem solving.
Speaking of problem solving, why are PR and communications majors so bad at math? I swear if you give us a long division problem, it would take five of us working on it together to figure it out and we would still have problems... and decimals... don't even think about throwing those into the mix, haha. But give me a case to work on and a campaign to design, and I'm all there. Group projects, speeches and research...buddy, I'm all about it. I just don't understand why math is such a problem in our major. I guess that's why people like my roommate/best friend that I've grown up with are so gifted in that area. She enjoys it... so it's all hers!! To me, finance and numbers = BLAH.
Another question I have about PR... why is it about 95% females and 5% males? It may not be like this everywhere because I see many PR professionals who are males, but at AU, this is the case. The percentages may even be more drastic than that. I can't figure it out, but some people outside of our major think that PR is one of those degrees you get to obtain your "MRS" degree. I'm not really sure what they are thinking because this semester I am in charge of a image campaign for a neighboring city, writing for The Corner News and The Auburn Family Social Network,which I also serve as an administrator. I'm designing my personal Web site, learning how to design a mobile version of my Web site and learning how to use all of the Adobe Suite programs proficiently. That is all in only 2 classes. That doesn't include all of the journalism, marketing and communications classes I've taken and the PR classes where I've conducted and reported research for a company over the course of a semester and designed a media kit for a company. This is real-life guys. What I'm doing now will be what I'm doing after I graduate. I feel I am totally prepared to handle a crisis after taking Case Studies and Ethics in PR, and having to ROPE model every case in the book plus the 'supplemental packet' my teacher added to the curriculum. Can we please throw one of those other students in a different major into my shoes for a semester. They would take back their statement about how PR is a "MRS" degree.
So here I am today. A senior with so much knowledge and passion for a profession, yet I'm stuck wandering what comes next.
Well, in an ideal world, I want to one day be doing publicity in the music or entertainment industries or doing PR for one of the companies that produces awards shows. Oh, the day I get to attend the Country Music Awards because of my job will be the day I know I have accomplished my dream. I know I can get there. It may take awhile, but I'm willing to work and network and learn the ins and outs of PR and the music industry to get there. Everyone has to wait their turn I think.
For now, I'm planning on interning in the summer or fall and finish my last three classes which ever semester I choose not to intern. Who knows where I will end up interning, but I hope it is somewhere where I can jump in and learn some interesting information!
This is my personal blog and I may share random information about my life or cool articles I read. I LOVE social media and I like to share every article about it. It continues to grow and as long as it's growing, the only thing a PR student can do is to expand their knowledge about it and grow with it.
