The Winning PR Campaign!

I feel so HAPPY! This whole semester, my five other group members and I have been working hard on our senior capstone for Public Relations. The Central Utah Gardens in Orem came to BYU because they were having a problem connecting with the public even though they offer really great free resources to help people save water in their yards. So long story short....seven groups of six seniors each came up with a creative campaign to help the Gardens relate with the public in order to help them gain more attendees, make the public aware and most importantly save water.

Well, like I said, we busted ourselves over the strategic plans behind what the Gardens could do. We analyzed research and came up who we should focus on. It was a lot of work but I really feel like I learned a lot. We came up with a new slogan, theme, brochure, billboard, children presentations, logo, children activities, blog, facebook, newsletter, nursery packet, THE WORKS! By the end, I felt like I understood the client pretty well and I was very happy with our products and planning. It was a lot of work and we spent so much time on it but it all paid off.

Last week, we presented to the Gardens staff along with the other groups and we WON! We were the winning campaign. They are going to use some of stuff and ideas in order to help their organization. We tried to help them see that people in Utah don't really care too much about saving water but they do care about saving money, having low-maintenance, beautiful yards, having activities for the whole family, and having all of that be convenient.

On the day of our presentation, we showed up with a mock size booth for the Garden expo and even brought our own sod and plants. I stole Camille's sprinklers and plants even. It was so great. I think it really helped.

Anyways, I feel pretty excited that we won and that I can add that to the resume! I'm so excited to drive by and visit the Gardens and see stuff that we developed actually come into use. That would be so cool.

PR Faculty Award of Merit

Dr. Plowman and me with my award.

Yesterday was pretty great! Camille was my special guest and we went to the BYU Conference Center. They had a nice lunch, which we didn't partake of, and then they had the award ceremony. You can feel like you were there for the whole event without all the other speeches for people you don't know by watching the video!

The PR Faculty Award of Merit was given to three outstanding PR students, usually seniors. I got a lot of really nice compliments from my professors afterward for their appreciation and consent for the award I received.

It is interesting to note that when I applied to the PR program in the beginning of 2007, I had an interview with one of the professors. It was her last interview and she actually fell asleep while we were talking. She didn't seem to be impressed with me at all. Well, long story short, I got notification that I was not accepted into the program and it devastated me. I had just broken up with my fiance, just recently had knee surgery and couldn't get the doctor's clearance because of complications, had issues with getting permission to go on my mission because of health and funding, and on and on. So getting rejected from my major was just one more discouraging thing. However, it made it much easier to decide to put my mission papers in, instead of continuing on with my studies because I didn't even have a major. I submitted my papers finally after many months of waiting and complications. Meanwhile, I went in to talk to one of my favorite first professors, Dr. Wilson, and told her that I really wanted to be in PR and that I felt like I should be admitted. I explained to her that I wasn't sure what happened during my interview but I didn't feel like I got a fair chance. She told me she would do what she could. I guess she went in there and fought for me because not too long later, they admitted me as one of the alternates. I then received my mission call to Houston and so I deferred school and went on the mission. Dr. Wilson, my professor who helped me, came up to me after the awards banquet and gave me a big hug.

Dr. Wilson, my first PR professor.

Dr. Wilson said, "When we met as a committee of all the PR faculty, I reminded them that just three years or so ago, I was arguing vehemently to admit Rhapsody into the program and now we are selecting her as top PR student. " She expressed how proud she was of me and seemed to see my potential that I didn't even know I had.

I know Heavenly Father has it all worked out. If I would have been admitted easily into the program, I don't know if I would have gone on a mission at the time I did. I know Heavenly Father guided me even though it seemed like the world crashed in on me. He knew the plan and knows it now. I trust Him and love Him.

There was an error publishing my video so I'll try again later.

Intramural Ballin'

Tonight, my team balled it up in Intramurals. We have gotten pretty far in the tournament and our next game is the final four spot. I've wanted an Intramural Champion t-shirt since I got to BYU and we are so close I can taste it. I've been on a lot of teams but we have always choked during the last games.

My team is pretty good. We have 9 girls so we can sub in and out and we aren't dying. Also, it's not really fair because we started out in Division 1 but I didn't come to any of the initial games and either did some of my teammates until the end. We lost a lot at first and so we went down to Division 2 and now big Rhappy and the gang is coming to town. We beat the team today by 20 points. I'm out-of-shape but I've lost some significant weight and I just glide down the court. It's crazy. I'm not even that winded. Weird. Maybe it's a fluke but I went on a run the other day and liked it. Trippy.

We have a game tomorrow at 6 p.m. but Camille and I made plans to go up to Salt Lake and find an apartment for me. That is super important so I'm hoping my team will deliver. I'm hoping my stress level will go down once I know where I'm going to live. My teammates are ballers so I'm not too worried.

Strumming on the Ole Banjo

Tonight was tight cuz I took my guitar final which was super easy and I'm just happy to be over and done with it. I had to know a lot of stuff that I never practiced and all of the major keys. I made up acronymns and I noticed that all of my little sayings revolved around food...for example: the key of C is C, F, G7--So I thought of Chocolate For Girls 7 days a week. The key of G is G, C, D7 and that one stood for Good Cookie Dough makes you gain 7 lbs. There are five keys and they all have similar themes. What can I say, I think about food.

I have this vision that when I move up to Salt Lake and I'm a little bit of a loser for the first little bit, I'm going to jam on the guitar and write cool songs about all my hope, dreams and...lack of dates. I like to write silly little poems and when I was a little girl I used to sing in the backyard of our 48st house. I would make up lyrics about little things and I thought I was going to be the next Dolly Parton. I'm not exactly sure why it was her but I distinctly remember that. Also, I would also get frustrated because I would try to make up my own tune but it would end up resemble one of my favorite little songs. Wow, that was just a little sneak peak into Rhappy's little head. Hope you enjoyed that.

Absolute worse scenario!

The most horrific thing in the whole world which could happen to a computer lab employee happened to me today. I feel mortified and now I have an outlet to release my emotions so you get to hear about it.

Well, I was visiting the labs and went to the SWKT. There was a guy who I recognized there who worked at the MTC. He was kind of pacing back and forth by the scanners. I offered to help him and he said he need to scan something but the other scanner was being used. I told him about the new, sweet multi-page scanner which is super easy and fast to use. I sat down with him and we put his document in to scan. It was an important book receipt that had the refund policy stapled to the back. He was probably scanning it for tax purposes or something. So I pressed the magical blue button and it started to scan. It slurped up that paper so fast and crinkled them a little but eventually spit them out and ripped off the bottom portion. I was scared but it was just the bottom corner that go ripped so it was ok. But, the patron chose the wrong program to scan into and so it was doing text recognition and it turned out all weird so we had to scan it again. Well, I was smarter this time and I changed the document width with the little sliders and fit it to the receipt. I prepped it all up and pressed that magical button....

And to my horror, it started grinding the receipt and ripping it through. I looked at the bottom of the scanner and there was only a piece of the receipt left but the scanner was still grinding away. Part of the torn receipt had gotten stuck in the gears and was continuing to be torn. I ripped the power cord out and made the madness stop. I then took apart the scanner and got the remains of the receipt and apologized like crazy. I was so mortified. He said, "It's ok. Do you have some tape?" By that time, that girl on the normal scanner was done and I rushed to get the tape. He jumped on that computer and taped his receipt together. I sulked back to my desk chair and just had to sit there for a little while to gain composure. It was terrible to say the least.

I think one of the worst parts about the experience was that I knew the guy from the MTC. We worked together and I knew he knew me and I knew him but not that well. Obviously, I'm not still working at the MTC and I just obliterated his material at my current job. Nice. Good track record and slightly embarrassing.

We got 2nd Place!

Here's the powerhouse. My Dept. of Comms Group. We got 2nd out of the 6 participating teams and the top team was hard to beat out so I feel awesome.


Here's me looking GQ. We got everyone laughing and spiced things up because the other presentations left everyone asleep. Our pictures weren't that great so this is the best I have.

Tonight's Tradeshow

Well, tonight is the big night for me. I've been the Account Executive (a fancy title for being the one in charge) of the PR team for the Department of Communications at BYU. We have written over 20 press releases, conducted focus groups, developed posters and events to entice students, updated social media, etc. We have done so much and tonight is the night when we will do a little slide-show presentation to describe what we have done. It is supposed to be a nice way to show-off all your hard work but really I'm just happy it's going to be over. This was a 1 credit learning experience that turned into one huge project that stressed me out to the max so I'm ready for a break. I felt really bad because I always had to assign projects to my team and they were stressed to the max. One girl even quit because it was too much. I don't blame her. There is a chance we could win as the top team in the Bradley PR agency at BYU. That would be really great because I would love my teammates to get some recognition for all they did and it would be sweet to bring that home for the resume. We'll see. There is an end in sight...except I still have a bunch of assignments to do for this account up until the last freaky day of the semester. Blast!

Future Plans!

Well, today I had my first phone interview ever. It was quite an experience. I love interviewing because I like to interact with people, but over the phone is a whole different animal. I couldn't see their expressions and I didn't know if I sounded intelligent or ridiculous. I was interviewing for an internship with Deseret Book and there were three people popping off questions about my experience and resume. I have an internship at Energy Solutions right now but I want to have options if I am put in a bad situation.

Honestly, I'm pretty nervous about the next couple of weeks. I'm moving up to Salt Lake, getting an apartment with strangers, starting a non-paid internship fresh out of college and trying to act adult. Wow, that sounds scary. I'm graduating in PR in August. It was kind of crazy to me when Mikey, my brother, wrote to me and said, "I didn't know you were a PR major." I thought everyone knew but I guess it was another one of my mysteries. I love many aspects of PR. I love understanding people and what motivates them. When you truly understand people and their self-interests, you can create messages that would be appealing to them and help them change behavior and understand your situation. I love being creative and brainstorming ideas. I like to plan events and get all of the little details out there. I like to write even though it stresses me out because I'm a perfectionist. I would love to eventually work for the LDS church in their Public Affairs office. Who knows what is going to happen.

I am also getting my seminary teaching certification because I love to teach. Many people tell me...oh, there's no money in that...but I don't really care. When it all comes down to it, I never want to be some successful career women who makes a name for herself and makes tons of money. I want to be a wife and mom. I want to be that kind of superstar but I have things to learn before that happens I guess. I want to roll around in a mini-van and come up with crazy dance moves to the nursery rhymes. I trust that Heavenly Father has it all under control and so I don't really understand everything because of my limited sight.

I'm hoping that my move to Salt Lake will give me just the kick in the pants that I need to break out of my comfort zone. I love Provo and I like where I'm at but I'm too comfortable for real growth to happen. I mean I've got good friends and my best friend in the whole world but I need to branch out. I want to meet some good guys and start progressing towards my end goals. I just keep feeling good about Salt Lake even though my internship is a little sketchy, I have no housing, and I know nobody but I know the Lord will take care of me. Good thing I'm starting a blog cuz this is gonna be interesting.

Beginning a Blog Adventure

Well, this is my attempt to describe some of the many adventures that I have in my life. Days seem to fly by and, yet, what I'm doing remains a mystery to even my family. I've been reading some family history of my ancestors, Rass and Fannie Hancock, and I'm realizing how AWESOME it is to read some of the stories of people in my family. I don't claim to be wise but I probably will make you chuckle on occasion because crazy things seem to happen to me. If my life were like a batch of my mom's spaghetti, it would definitely be one where she dumped in half of the pepper shaker because things get spicy! So I ask, don't judge me for the weakness of my writing or the ridiculousness of my actions at times.