If I knew all the words

I was inspired for this post by a friend and mentors blog PRos in Training. As a new professional I’ve been at my job for almost three months now, and I’ve been trying to find my footing and keep up with the routine that is work and attempting to have a social life outside of work. It’s rough, new city, new job, and trying to change my lifestyle. Things have been sacrificed in the process, the first thing to go, my blog.

At the end of last year I was teaching friends and younger underclassmen about the positives of blogging and engaging in social media and yet I’ve become lazy with it.

I’ve never been one to make New Years Resolutions, but I feel like this is something I was so passionate about not so long ago, I can’t let it die.

So my “Social” Resolutions for 2009 are:

Blog AT LEAST Once a week: I am very busy with work and other obligations in life, but that doesn’t mean on Sunday nights I can’t put aside an hour or two to blog as I’m watching TV.

Make a weekly Dent in my blog reader: I have over 1,000 unread blogs in my blog reader. It adds stress looking at all these unread blogs, if I make an effort to read atleast three aday I won’t have to press “Read All” and feel guilty for it.

Comment More: Enough said.

Tweet things other than personal things: I’ve gotten in the habit of using Twitter as a Facebook status. I got my job through twitter. This can be used as a much better tool than talking about the crazy person I’m sitting next to on the bus or to complain about my headache.

Hopefully I can hold myself accountable for these resolutions, but they will also get me back into the swing of things.

Welcome. Guten Tag! Hallo.

My name is Staci Stringer, I’m a 21-year-old Senior at the University of Oregon (UO). I’m anticipating to graduate in June of this year with a Bachelors of Science, a major in Journalism with a concentration in public relations and a minor in communications. But my passion lies with event management and experiential marketing.

This past year I’ve had the honor of serving as the Panhellenic Vice President of Recruitment for Greek Life at UO. Panhellenic council is the governing body of all the sororities on campus. My job has opened multiple opportunities for leadership roles. I’ve overseen a staff of seven women, managed a $20,000 budget, planed fall formal recruitment, and organized programming for week of welcome and IntroDUCKtion. I have also facilitated recruitment chair meetings, and recruitment counselor training sessions. Through this experience I have had the opportunity to speak to large groups of parents and students to promote and educate them about the positive influence the Greek Community can have on ones undergraduate experience. This job requires me to be detail oriented, enthusiastic, independent, self-motivated, and personable. Through this job I’ve learned conflict management, good customer service, and verbal communication skills. All of which, I believe will be great skills when I dive into the real world in the next year. In October of 2007 I was hired at Allen Hall Public Relations (AHPR) as an assistant account executive. My team of four works with our client the Eugene Center for Community Counseling to outreach to the citizens of Eugene and Springfield as they celebrate their 30th Anniversary.

Over the past year I’ve seen the value of companies and organizations creating and participating in blogs. Not just product blogs, but blogs that reach out and communicate with the reader. By opening up a community conversation for clients, blogs allow them to fully connect with products, as well as the mission and values of organizations.

I began writing blogs my senior year of high school when my advanced algebra teacher decided to make it a weekly homework assignment. I thought this was weird considering it was a math class, not an English class, but little did I know it would become a part of my future profession. Later in the year I came to find out he is an accomplished writer and artist. During my freshman year of college I found his Web site, 39forks, and began contributing to his conversation. He has inspired me to continue to write and pursue this course which seems to be public relations.

I hope this blog can be a sliver of insight into myself, as well as my journey into finding out about the world of public relations. As I continue to develop this blog, please look for samples of work as well as my resume. Feel free to explore and get involved with the conversations!