It was a bittersweet end to #Freberg15 this morning to wrap up the semester for me. To put it simply, this class was an opportunity of a lifetime that I never would have guessed that I’d be experiencing in a classroom setting. The course was taught by Professor Karen Freberg. I had taken one of her strategic communication courses before, and she had recommended me to enroll in her “Social Media” course.
Once I got her referral to join the class, Dr. Freberg chose me as one of the team leaders for a semester-long group project, where we’d be expected to create a social media campaign proposal for a local professional or organization. As for me, I’ve never really been fond of group projects, let alone leading them. Although, this was an opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone and get some hands on experience. Invaluable experience that was not limited to putting together a campaign proposal but putting to work all of my raw, indistinguishable traits that I learned makes me a great leader.
Throughout the semester, we were expected to write weekly blogs and post weekly tweets concerning topics of interests and material we covered in class. I was even required to do a strategic brief on how I would brand myself to a future employee using Instagram. I realized she wasn’t prevaricating, as much professors do, the amount of time and dedication that would be need to succeed in her class. I mean really, who would have thought a social media class would be so demanding and require a hell of a lot more than posting a few tweets and writing a handful of blogs a semester?
Now for the campaign proposal, my group’s client was the Director of Brand Marketing and Advertising for the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau (LCVB), Gathan Borden. Gathan is a genuine, easily relatable guy who obviously understood the marketing industry. He made our group’s life a hell of a lot easier when it finally came time for us to start coming up with strategies and tactics for our proposal. He had given us practical information and insight on not only LCVB but marketing in general, which we definitely put in good use for our proposal.
Of course Dr. Freberg was extremely helpful and supportive, from beginning to end. I couldn’t have ask for a better source of inspiration and support coming from a professor. It’s probably why I cringe whenever I overhear another colleague talk about how unhelpful, unsupportive, and down-right “don’t care about their students” professors that have are. It makes me even more confident that I really found the right major that’s best for me.
Finally, to reflect on everything, I now have so many applicable things I am able to take away from this class. Most importantly though, it was great to be able to learn something in class and actually get to demonstrate and apply what I learned, then present it in a professional manner to a real life client. Seriously, where else can an undergraduate student find an opportunity like that? Bar none, one of the most invaluable and worthwhile classes that I have taken here at U of L. And this class shouldn’t just be for Communication majors and social media enthusiasts. Anyone who is interested in getting real-world experience as well as an education that in the end will be worthwhile, needs to step out of their comfort zone and face this challenge head-on by taking this class. As John Hammond once said, “Spared no expense.”
(You can check out my group’s campaign proposal by clicking the link.)
Alan Jeffery Branch 