Journal #4

After two full years of Comm classes at Longwood, I can definitely see how they have prepared me for this internship with Roanoke County Fire and Rescue. One of the most beneficial courses I have applied this summer has been Professor Halliday’s Introduction to Media Writing class. In that course, I learned how to gather pertinent information and compile a press release from it. This came into play when I was tasked with helping write a press release for a fire we had a few weeks ago. I was able to sift through the call reports and information from one of our PIO’s on scene and develop the release we sent out to local media stations. Learning how to write this kind of release helped me not get overwhelmed when given this task, and I was able to complete it without issue.

Another class that has significantly helped me is Dr. Naomi’s Fundamentals of Public Relations course. In this course we learned how organizations go about creating the image they want to portray to the public, which can include news releases, social media, websites, blog posts, etc. I have created multiple flyers and other marketing materials that the Department has been able to post on social media, and I‘ve taken pictures of our firefighters working out in the community to improve the public’s perception of what we are doing to help the Roanoke Valley.

The third class that has helped prepare me for this internship is Dr. Fay’s Persuasion Theory course. During this course, I submitted several assignments (speeches and essays) working on persuasion pertaining to Smokey the Bear and his campaign to prevent forest fires. I chose this topic intentionally because I wanted to understand how public and government organizations persuade the public to learn more about the topics they put out. The material I learned in this course helped me to understand the perspective many audiences have when reading this type of content or reading it on social media. I have used this knowledge when making marketing materials and helping Jennifer and Brian post information on the Department’s social media accounts.