As you may
or may not know, I recently won the award for top undergraduate paper at the
2014 Ohio Communications Associations (OCA) Conference. Before I get to winning, I
have to take you back a little bit.
Last spring,
I was enrolled in Dr. Aggie’s communications research methods class where I researched
Calvin Klein and the perception formed through the use of sex in advertising. I
had heard this class was one of the hardest and most time consuming classes to
take as a PR major so I was bracing myself for the road ahead. The rumors were
all true. The class took up a TON of time and it proved to be very stressful. I
was asked to do scary academic things I had never done before, like write a
literature review and conduct primary research on my own.
However, I
decided if this class was going to put me through hell, I was going to come out
on the other side with something I could be proud of. And, as much as I hated
the whole process a certain part of me loved it. I discovered I’m actually a
bit of a research nerd. After a lot of stress, tears and time I finally walked
away from the class with work that brought me a sense of pride, and Dr. Aggie
encouraged me to submit my work to OCA because she felt my paper had the
potential to win.
With Dr.
Aggie’s strong recommendation I decided to go for it. I spent the first month
of my summer break meticulously editing my paper and sending it back and forth
to professors to read and critique so I could submit it to OCA by the deadline
in June. After more tears and editing, I sent my paper off leaving it in the
hands of the judges.
In July, I received
an email from a member of OCA saying my paper had been selected for
presentation at the 78th Annual OCA Conference at Franklin
University in October. I would be lying if I said I didn’t cry when I read the
email. This email was not a guarantee I had won, but I didn’t care. To be
chosen to present at the conference was enough to make me feel as if my hard
work was finally paying off.
Fast forward
the day of my presentation on Oct. 4. I was the very last person in the very
last presentation session of the entire conference. I was nervous to present because the material had been lying dormant in my brain since spring semester, and I was presenting in front of professors from other universities. However,
once I started speaking my tension eased and my presentation couldn’t have gone
smoother. Once I was done presenting I was asked a few questions about my
research and everyone was dismissed to go home.
I didn’t
officially find out I had won until the Monday after the conference following an
email conversation with someone from OCA. She informed me I had won top
undergraduate paper and would be receiving my award and check in the mail. The
next day, I was honored to see an article about me in the Northern Express and a similar article released by ONU
Communications and Marketing.
As an
underclassman I remember thinking I could never measure up to the brilliant junior
and senior PR majors here at Northern. They were the ones who won awards and
got papers published, not me. But now I’m the PR senior winning awards for my
hard work, and I finally feel at home in my major and my studies. Winning top
undergraduate paper through OCA is an honor I never dreamed of achieving and
looking at where I started and where I have come gives me the confidence to
tackle the next big challenge in my school work and my career.
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