At the beginning of my sophomore year, I needed a 3 credit course to finish off my schedule for the semester. A friend in my sorority introduced me to COM 490 and said that it would be a fun and engaging course, without knowing much about it herself. I didn't have many options left as it was getting late, so I decided to enroll and see what it was about. I never fathomed that this class would teach me so many skills and introduce me to such talented people.
The goal of this class is to create a minor for Event Leadership at Michigan State in the Communications school, but also involving Hospitality Business. COM 490, the class we are taking currently, would be the capstone class for the minor. This class involves creating a real life event from brainstorming to fundraising to planning and executing. It was a long shot to create this 400 level class and hope that it goes well when the minor classes aren't available yet. This was taken as a challenge for TK Kubvoruno and David Tucker, our instructors who created "University Viral", along with Dr. William Donohue. As many can see, we are on the right path and the 18 students, 'The Founders' are successfully creating the capstone event for this semester.
The first day pushed everyone out of their comfort zones, without notice we had to introduce ourselves, answer a few questions and describe our strengths and weaknesses. It may sound simple, but this isn't something that we normally have to outwardly talk about. This is what helped the class bond and create connections within. This first day already taught us to be comfortable voicing our weaknesses and gave us an opportunity to say we want to improve. With our strengths, we divided into groups based mainly off of media, logistics/sales and planning.
I knew my strengths consisted mainly of planning so I chose that route, but I chose to lay low instead of trying to jump into a leadership position. At first, everyone wanted to be the leader or producer and face of our class until they realized how much time and effort actually goes into the role. As weeks went on, we quickly found out who is truly dedicated to making this event go on. This showed us what the work world is really like, you often have to pick up for others slack. You can't just assume something is going to get done, because it won't and I'm the type of person who will get fed up and just do it myself. This happened to many of the leaders in our class and we have all worked together to create something amazing. After being noticed as these types of people we received our own director positions. It is not ordinary for every person to volunteer to do the tough jobs and work hours on hours outside of class but someone has to do it. With this, even the smallest tasks are important to have the event run smoothly, everyone is noticed and appreciated.
Our event, Viral Cares presents, "Friday Night Lights Gala" will take place on Friday, November 30th. Tickets will be available soon and a percentage of the proceeds will be donated in support for "Wish Upon A Teen".
