Advertising: A Year So Far
One of the reasons I chose the advertising program at Newhouse was because it was only a year. Program alums will tell you, “it’s only a year, it goes by so quickly.” I told myself the same thing: it’s only a year, how bad can a year be? Although sometimes the days are long and the week seems to drag, today marks the 133rd day of my one year program. It’s the beginning of my 19th week in my program, and it really has flown by.
Last week marked the end of my midterm projects and exams and the beginning of the fall semester’s final projects. There’s been a slowdown in the hustle and bustle of my semester, and I’d like to take some time to reflect thus far. By slowdown I mean the calm before the metaphorical storm that is finals week. And as it turns out, in grad school, finals week becomes finals month.
When people ask me how I am, I frequently say, “busy.” I’ve realized this is a stupid answer for two reasons. The first reason is that everyone is busy. Literally everyone could say they are busy for whatever reason. The second reason ‘busy’ is a stupid answer is because it isn’t an answer to, “How are you?” If I’m going to honestly answer with how I am, I’m going to say satisfied. It has taken awhile to come up with the right word to describe my school life, especially when it can be such a roller coaster of emotion, but I’ve come to the conclusion that satisfying is the best description of my experience so far.
I’ve learned so much since I started 133 days ago. I have no communications background, let alone advertising background, so every day I’ve tried to act as a sponge. I’ve gone to every Eric Mower speaker series event and meet and greet that my schedule allows. I got involved with my program, with the Newhouse school via this blog and with TNH, the Newhouse student-run advertising agency. I’m busy, but I’ve never felt more satisfied with a busy schedule.
I’m also an Instructional Assistant here which is a whole other satisfying experience. Each week I teach the Adobe Suite programs (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator) in five lab courses to undergraduates. I received the position when I was accepted and didn’t know exactly what my job entailed until the week before classes. I was expecting to grade papers, take attendance, hold office hours and just have typical teaching assistant roles. I was not expecting to teach. I was terrified for the first few weeks, but it has become really satisfying for me. My students still ask me lots of questions, but they ask me questions because they’re learning. The fact that they’re learning from me blows my mind sometimes. I’ve never been very interested in teaching. I still don’t think I am, but I completely understand why people become teachers.
The most satisfying moments, though, come from handing in final reports. Completing a presentation that I’ve spent hours researching and preparing information for, getting the final report bound and handing it over to my professor. I’ve been doing some of my best work in the past 133 days here at Newhouse. I don’t know if it’s because of the environment or my own personal motivation, but there is nothing more satisfying than finishing something that you think is your very best and handing it over to someone.
I have about another 230 satisfying days here and even with all of the rough patches and the obstacles, I hope nothing changes.
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