It’s amazing to think that in one year, I’ll be graduating. I can’t believe I’ve already been at Michigan State for three years, and all of the things I’ve experienced. Last week, I watched (some of) the Professional Writing seniors present their final portfolios, which they will put on their resumes to show the awesome work they’ve created. There are so many blog entries, graphic designs, websites, and various other pieces demonstrating how well PW has prepared them for the real world. I’m in awe. I’ll miss them every day that they’re gone, and hope that we will work together again soon.

Some of the best portfolios come from my friends:

Laurel Sutherland is searching for a job in communications/pr/graphic design. She had PW as a secondary major, with her primary major as the Residential College of Arts and Humanities (RCAH). We were interns together at WRAC in the fall of 2010.

Hannah Ettema is looking for a job in communications management, with travel and nature as her interests.

Joel Heckaman has had copious experiences with project management, organizing several events with local music. He was the head honcho for Jamming for Japan.

Devon Barrett is currently writing a romance novel and will be heading to the Denver Publishing Institute in July. She also actively maintains a blog.

There are so many more fantastic seniors. Hopefully, I’ll be able to give a link to a list of portfolios soon.

I work in the Michigan State Writing Center for about 13 hours every week. In this time, I generally see about 8 or 9 different clients (in earlier weeks I see fewer, during finals week I can see upwards of 15). I enjoy working with students from so many different backgrounds, and helping them achieve better writing skills.

At the Writing Center, our goal is not to improve a single paper; it’s to improve the writing skills of our clients, who therefore improve their own papers.

Today, I met with a girl about a research paper on problems with prison release in the US. She was very insightful. Although the paper was not yet complete, she explained about the difficulties of bringing ex-prisoners back into the world and re-emerging them back into society. Some states have created programs to try and help this re-emergence, such as half way houses. Others just impose stringent laws that prohibit prisoners from participating in jobs that require licensing and make it difficult for them to receive housing. It’s no wonder that felons without a strong support system outside of prison sometimes re-offend, and go back to a place of free housing on tax payer dime.

She explained two of her own ideas to help solve this problem, with an educated and well supported documentation. I talked about transitioning between paragraphs and making sure that all of her cited evidence is supported by her own ideas. In the end, the consultation took less than 40 minutes, a rarity for hour long consultations. She made notes as we continued through her paper that marked where she should improve her transitions. It was like watching a writer evolve over years of school training.

As she got up to leave, she said, “Thank you so much. I felt like last time I came here, my problems were fixed but not explained. This was much more helpful.”

I’m glad to know that even though she came in with a paper with well thought out ideas and structure, I still could help her become a better writer.

On Saturday, April 16th, the day finally came: International Record Store Day. This was no ordinary IRSD, as this year I co-developed an event with East Lansing’s The Record Lounge for live music and tsunami relief for Japanese victims called Jamming for Japan. I created the graphic design elements for the event including posters, flyers, and t-shirts. It ate up all of my spare time since early March, when Joel Heckamen (the Creative Director at the Record Lounge, and fellow MSU PW undergraduate) asked me to get involved. It all culminated down to one day of music and donations.

We worked hard to get access to three different locations in East Lansing. Everything seemed to be falling in to place, when the one uncontrollable element decided it did not wish to cooperate. The weather was atrocious, and we were forced to relocate to just one of the original locations and The Record Lounge. However, rain could not keep down the spirits of the musicians or the generous people of East Lansing. We raised over $300 for the American Red Cross’s fund.

It was an incredible experience to work with Joel Heckamen and another PW student, Dan Nufer, in order to make such a major event happen. We received publicity in the Lansing State Journal, Lansing NOISE, and other local publications, as well as time on the student radio, The Impact. It seemed everyone really wanted to help the cause. We greatly appreciate all of the support and sponsorship from the community.

I hope that this only sheds good light on my next graphic design project with The Record Lounge, the 4th annual Middle of the Mitten in January of 2012.