B is for Bachelor's Degree

Bachelor's Degree : a first degree at a college or university; B.A. or B.S.

[According to the Cambridge Dictionary]

Back in May I graduated from Ohio Northern. I received my Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, majoring in marketing. It's such a crazy time to think back on because at that point, we were all at the end and we knew it. We were all trying to spend as much time together and make the most of our final days - knowing that life as we had known it for the last four years, was coming quickly to an end. Definitely makes me a little sad - a lot sad - to be thinking back on it.

I think it's so interesting that after four years it all comes down to a piece of paper. It symbolizes all of the hard work and late nights that you put into the books and at the bar - college wasn't just about the classes and the degree. It was about growing up and making friends and making your way in a new place, even if that place was the cornfields of Ada.

I wouldn't give up a single memory from that place, good or bad and I cherish each for different reasons. Whether they're lessons - like don't try to ballroom dance with drunk boys because you'll end up with a black eye before Christmas; stories - like that one time when I dumped my beer on a boy at a party, or just the littlest, most random things that make the biggest impact - like nighttime talks between bunk beds, playing drinking board games and Country music before heading to the bar or listening to Christmas music while working on projects late at night in the business building, hiding from security to not get kicked out. 

Graduation. That was almost eight months ago! That's insane! I can't believe how quickly life passes and how everything changes in what seems like the blink of an eye. To those of you who are still fortunate to be in college, I'd like to say this - Quit your bitching! Seriously the "real world" is nothing like college and it's such a huge change. 

Enjoy the fact that you can take naps and can pull all-nighters and don't have class until 10. Take advantage of all the breaks you get between semesters and Summers! I don't ever get a summer break Ever Again! Spend as much time with your roommates and take advantage of every opportunity and adventure that you're lucky enough to come upon. But if you don't, that's on you and I hope you don't regret it once you get your fancy piece of paper and are trying to make it on your own out here. Just don't take it for granted.

Until next time

    -~- B.

B is for Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy : a system of administration based upon organization into bureaus, division of labour, a hierarchy of authority, etc: designed to dispose of a large body of work in a routine manner.

[According to the World English Dictionary]

The last time I talked about the American Marketing Association, I told about how my co-president, Chelsie, and I had completely restructured the group and strategy. Since then, we've gotten so much accomplished. We've done more in these first couple months than in the previous years that I'd been involved.
This is how we restructured the group to increase organization, focus and incentive:

1. We decided to implement a point system to measure and reward attendance to meetings, events and participation in fundraisers. At the end of each semester, we'll award the 'Member of the Semester' with a $25 gift card. At the end of the year, the 'Member of the Year' will receive a $50 gift card. The point chart will also be used to determine the allocation of our group funds for the trip to New Orleans for the International Collegiate Conference.
2. We also decided to have each officer keep a log of each of the activities/work that they did each month in their position for the group. This would not only measure which positions were doing more/less work than others, but it would give us a Transition Booklet to be used for reference when new members are elected into officer positions for the next year. These logs would also help us decide how to reorganize the executive board for next year, if need be.
3. Chelsie and I decided that both our group and officer meetings needed to be more routine and set into a schedule. We  keep everyone involved and interested in staying in the group if we met more than once every few months.
• I created a calendar for the year, marking each of the general and officer meetings in the schedule. This would allow members to know before-hand when we would be having meetings to schedule around them. Our semester schedule was also included with holiday breaks and special events, fundraisers and more.
• We decided to hold our meetings bi-weekly, with our officer meetings every other Sunday from 8:30-9:30 PM and our general meetings the following Wednesday from 7:00-8:00 PM. The schedule really seems to be working out well for us this year.
4. Finally, I completely re-created our chapter's website, since it was last updated in 2006 (not okay). You can check it out here at ONU's AMA Website.

We kicked off our year with a booth at WelcomeFest, where all the freshman are able to walk around our field house and check out all of the campus organizations and sign up if interested. AMA incorporated an interactive game into our booth and gave away prizes to get the interest of the students, and it was really successful. Our Kick-Off Barbecue, a few days after WelcomeFest, actually had a record number of attendees and interested students. We did typical introductions and ice-breakers, asking why they would like to be members to get ideas for later meetings and provide valuable experiences for our members.

Marketing Week was held October 17th though the 23rd, where we had a booth set up all week in the college. Monday we kicked off marketing week with a marketing research taste test where we had students use french fries to taste both Heinz ketchup and an off-brand label. The results were interesting though. With 70 participants, we had 53% voting on Ketchup 1 (Heinz) as best-tasting and 47% voting for Ketchup 2 (Off-Brand) as the best-tasting. Next for marketing week was having three teams of five people participate in the St. Jude's Up Til Dawn Letter Writing Event to raise money for the hospital. We also had a booth set up all week to gain donations, which went towards our New Orleans trip for the Collegiate Conference by being able to pie the professor whose jar collected the most money at the end of the week. We even had an incentive that if you donate money, you get a raffle ticket and a chance to throw one of the three winning pies! For the first time holding this event, we had a great turn-out. Finally, to end marketing week on a high note, our club took a trip to Cedar Point's Halloweekends to ride some roller coasters, learn a bit about the marketing efforts of an amusement park and enjoy the spooky atmosphere with the group.

Most recently, our group joined with the local Mexican restaurant to promote their business, encouraging the community and students to eat at the restaurant on Halloween, and in return, AMA would get 10% of each of the bills for profit. We also hosted a costume contest during the specified hours of 5-9 PM, where the winner would receive a $25 gift certificate. Our club made over $100, so we hope to hold the event again later this year.

-~- B.

B is for Bus

Bus: a large motor vehicle designed to carry passengers usually 

along a fixed route according to a schedule.

[According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary]

Ok so a few days before I was supposed to board the train, Amtrak called me and told me that there was scheduled track work and for part or all of my trip I would have to take alternate transportation. I minorly freaked out, being completely confused my the message, but I called the number back and basically they said that everything was taken care of and all I would have to do was take the train from Toledo, Ohio to Albany, New York, get off the train and board a bus in Albany which would take me the rest of the way to Boston. I guess I did want an adventure right? Well that’s how I looked at the situation anyways - as just another part of the adventure. So here we go exiting the train and being herded into the Albany station. I hear an older man ask a worker what travelers heading to Boston were supposed to do, so naturally I went up to this man and asked if he was taking the bus to Boston too. He said yes and told me to stick with him and two other younger people around my age. He said, "Well, if we miss the bus then we'll all miss it together." I was fine with that. At least I wasn’t completely alone. So we wait over an hour for this bus to pick us up and it finally comes and we get split up a bit. There were two buses and each was stopping at certain stops but leaving out others to shorten the trip. Another bus was coming along about an hour later to be a straight shot to Boston, but I wasn't really in the mood to be waiting a whole additional hour. Anyways I get put on the red bus to Boston, and luckily I’m put on the same bus as Matt, an accounting grad about to get his Masters from the University of Tennessee, returning home to Boston after a family wedding in Rochester, New York. Matt was another stranger made friend during my traveling adventures and we talked about anything and everything during the bus trip. The trip lasted a good 5 hours but when you're occupied that doesn't seem so long and can go by pretty quickly. I was pretty thankful to have had Matt there to keep me company. Unlike the train, the bus had much less room to spread out but fortunately when they filled the buses, this one only had so many people that everyone has two seats to themselves. I couldn’t complain. The trip could have been pretty miserable if everyone had been partnered up, but I was able to spread out a bit and not have all by bags smashed up on my lap. Nearing the end of the ride I got a bit nervous, not familiar with the area I was being dropped off at to wait nor knowing exactly where my friend was going to pick me up at, but Matt knew the area so he showed me where to wait safely and was really helpful. All-in-all the entire trip to Boston was a success and quite the adventure. =)

-~- B.