Kathryn Courier

Self Reflection

My major in Communications and Media studies has taught me a lot these past four years here at Saint Norbert College. I learned so many skills that I will take with me into the corporate world. Being a Communications major has taught me many things like understanding theories and concepts. I was able to learn about key ideas, media effects, representation and so much more. Critical thinking was also a key concept I learned about. As a communications major it’s important to analyze how communication shapes societies, cultures, identities, power structures, etc. It’s also important to develop the ability to evaluate and produce media content in a meaningful way. Another thing I learned as a communications major is to be creative because it allows us to express freely, connect with the audience on a more personal and deeper level as well as differentiating your work from others.

Being a communications major has definitely effected me personally. After learning about all the theories, I become more self aware in what I say as well as my actions. This can include verbally, nonverbally, and digitally. It also has allowed me to form stronger relationships with others. I am now able to understand that good listening skills, empathizing, resolving conflict, and building connections all plays a part in building stronger relationships. Being a communications major has also taught me crucial skills such as recognizing biased information, how media can shape your beliefs and identity, and challenging my prior knowledge on topics. I was able to learn how to adapt in certain situations and gain the tools to express myself effectively.

I learned a lot of things that I will take with me into the professional world. For example taking Business and Professional speaking course taught me valuable skills such as resume building, cover letters, job searches, job negotiations, public speaking and so much more. This is a few of the many skills I learned that I will take with me to the corporate world. I’m now able to understand how to talk to all different types of people in different power statuses.

My concentration is Communication. I learned many topics such as communication inquiry, mass communication, interpersonal communication, technology social change, health communication, mental health communication, small group communication, political communication, business and professional speaking and conflict communication. I engaged in many scholarly perspectives such as media representation analysis when we would analyze films, rhetorical criticism when we studied Barack Obama’s speech, media effect studies when we analyzed all different types of media, interpersonal communication research when we analyzed how partners communicate, media use and mental health, research methods.

After graduation, I hope to land a job in marketing or sales. I studied abroad my fall semester of junior year in Florence, Italy. I completely fell in love and applied for a job as a tour promoter there. It would be a sales/marketing job during the week and I would take study abroad students on trips every weekend. As a plan B, I am applying to pharmaceutical sales and marketing jobs. I was a Health Care Professional marketing intern last summer for a drug called UBRELVY at the company Abbvie and I absolutely loved it and can see myself doing that as a full time career. At Abbvie I was also a change management intern my summer into Junior year. I worked at Abbvie for 2 summers and really got a taste for what the corporate world was like. I believe it really prepared me for the workforce and learned valuable skills that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.