This was our final assignment for my M Com class and just a fun way for me to get a few of my thoughts on paper. Nothing MLB or wedding-related here, but I hope you enjoy:
When I signed up
for M Com 320, I did so as more of an elective class as opposed to a GE. As a
political science major, I will have achieved my advanced writing GE
requirement through classes in the major (including the grueling PoliSci 200 which
I took a year ago…) and thus didn’t need M Com to earn that merit badge.
However, despite M Com not even being part of the business minor which I have completed
when it definitely should be, I took the class hoping for knowledge and
feedback on how I can hopefully get a job one day. Once the class began to get
going, I quickly realized that the skills and knowledge that I was gaining in
the class were going to do much more for me than simply help get a job. The ways
that I write, present, and approach job-hunting have all been affected by this
class and I know will help in my career pursuits.
Aside from
technical and grammar improvements, this class has affected my writing by
encouraging me to write concisely but creatively. No one wants to read the same
boring stuff again and again. Shayne’s approach to writing (and life) is to
never be boring, and I can tell that his careers have been amplified by that
creativity. Just like how you can still be yourself and be a successful
missionary, I believe that you can still be yourself and be successful in the
business world. I want my writing to reflect my attitude and my enthusiasm for
whatever it is that I am writing about, not sounding like a droning robot. One
of the textbook principles that affected me the most was that of OABC, which I believe
would improve the organization of millions of written messages (and countless
missionary emails) if people understood it and took it seriously.
Writing skills
will be important to nearly any business career I may choose, but presentation
skills are right up there as well. I have always been pretty laid back and
never got nervous about presentations, but various simple advices on presenting
and PowerPoint presentations helped me to improve. I want to be exciting and
entertaining but I also need whoever my audience may be to understand and be
impacted by my presentations, and need to take the lessons we read about and
practiced in this class seriously.
I have loved the
things that we have learned from class discussions, quizzes, and the textbook
on writing and presenting, but none of those things will mean much if I never
get a job. I could be finished with school here in just two semesters, but I have
no idea what I want to do. After returning home from my mission in Africa, I
was very interested in politics, government, international relations, and basically
just how countries around the world work. I have a special interest in Africa
and have studied development and aid in Africa as well. I chose political science
because I enjoyed the international politics and international relations classes,
and while I loved what I learned, studied, and wrote about in those classes, I do
not see myself in a career in anything politics-related. I feel that business
is the best route for me and am strongly considering an MBA. However, what kind
of field I would like to go in to in business is completely undetermined.
M Com has helped
me to learn resume, cover letter, and interviewing skills, but I need to start figuring
out what I enjoy and what I want to do. If nothing else, Shayne’s life story
and job history has encouraged me to think creatively and find something that I’m
passionate about. I’ll be getting married in ten days, and need to start
working harder and more seriously about deciding what my career path will be.
Some people know they want to be a doctor or a lawyer or a musician from the
day they’re born, but I’ve never had any such direction or any clue at all as
to what I want to be when I grow up. Working hard in my last few semesters in
school and pursuing internships will hopefully help me to just pick something
and start there. My only desire is to be able to provide for a family one day,
and I am grateful for what I have learned in this class that will hopefully help
me to achieve that.
Writing and
communicating in business (and in life) honestly does mean much more to me than
it did when I entered the class. I want to be sharp in my writing and
communicating skills (especially to make up for my mediocre college GPA!), and
to be able to impress employers. Despite my current lack of direction, I know
that I will find a field that I enjoy and that I will succeed in. I know that learning
basic business communication principles like I did in this class will
absolutely help me to achieve more, no matter what that field may be.
Finally I just
want to give a short thank you note to Shayne Clarke. I always enjoyed coming
to class (even on the grammar days) because you made it so enjoyable. Any class
means more to a student when you can really tell that the teacher both cares
about what he/she is teaching and is an example of someone who has succeeded in
whatever they are teaching about. I know that the principles of M Com have
helped you in the business world and that you just want to share that success
and those experiences with us. Thanks for being such a fun teacher, it really
was one of my favorite classes at BYU – right up there with a Human Rights
(PoliSci 473) class that I took this semester. Somehow though, I think that
what I learned in M Com will be of greater help to me over the next few years.
Thanks again, for everything.
Roy Copans
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