My academic plan and overall plan for the next three and a half years will benefit me as a

leader, as my major and my minor are both beneficial when it comes to the understanding the
backgrounds of previous leaders, leadership regimes and overall social interaction between
humans. Public Relations deals with people. People from all demographics, psychographics, etc.
History deals with well, past events, cultures, civilizations and straight up human lives. Whats
happened in the past must be studied in order for it not to be repeated in the future. Now why
would these things be important to my leadership journey? Well they all deal with people.
Understanding people is integral in order to be a good leader and both my major in PR and minor
in History deal with the importance of people.
Since my overall education will be based on liberal arts curriculum as Im in the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences (obviously) it will give me a more well rounded background for my
future. Why thats important to present me, and most likely future me, is because being educated
in subjects that dont relate to my major will make me have more potential to understand
different things in different ways. If I ever have to deal with a scientist, psychologist or lawyer,
lets say, during my future career in PR, I at least want some sort of personal experience that
relates with that persons experience. Obviously Ill never be an environmental scientist, and nor
do I want to be, but by me having taken ENVR 110, I have more potential to relate and see
where their perspective is coming from.
All of the Greenlee curriculum I will be taking throughout my four years, since Im a
Public Relations major in the school, will most definitely prepare me for the real world and
make me more comfortable with diverse peoples, hence making me a better leader. All of the
journalism and public relations courses Im required to take deal with communication. In order

to communicate with different people, you need to adapt and make messages that can relate to
many contrasting groups. Some publics require social media posts, some ads in the mail, and
some need face to face interaction in order to trust whoever is trying to communicate with them.
My degree requires me to complete a 400 hour internship along with all of the required courses,
which will most likely lead me to being able to be more comfortable with talking to new people
and understanding a professional PR work environment, business and social wise.
I know choosing history as my minor seems like a rather odd and useless use of a minor,
but honestly I think history is one of the most important subjects students are taught in school.
The amount of people who dont know about major historically important time periods, wars or
political figure heads is extremely baffling at this day and age. Knowing these things is so
integral in order for the human species to not slide backwards into rather negative social and
political situations. Learning about some of the greatest time periods and leaders is a great way
for me to contrast what it is to be a bad leader and what it is to be a great leader. Reading and
going to museums to see just how great Alexander was and how rather horrible Herbert Hoover
was during the Great Depression really shows depth in the art and practices of leadership. In
order to know the good you need to at least read about the bad and have a grasp as to what is so
horrendous about terrible leadership, and how it never lasts (because its terrible). Overall I think
that history is a great choice for me personally and will most definitely lead me to a good place
in my leadership journey, and will most likely lead with me a better understanding of human
beings and just how complicated we are as a species.
During my summers off I plan to either have an internship, job or travel. All of these will
be contributing to my leadership journey as with any of these I will be interacting with new

people and expanding my worldview in many different ways. By having a job or internship I will
most definitely become more adaptive to different leadership styles, strategies and tactics.
Socially analyzing my managers, bosses or just fellow workers who have been on the job for a
longer time than I have, will allow me to have the ability to understand their viewpoint better and
adapt it into my viewpoint if I think it would be beneficial for my leadership abilities. Travelling
is one of the most important things life, at least in my opinion. It expands your mind in different
ways that other things just cant. Seeing the way other people live and socially interact in
different and similar ways compared to the way you live and react in social interactions, is
fascinating and puts life into perspective. Questions will pop up that may have never had the
ability to pop up because of the things that occur when your traveling. Ultimately regardless of
what Im doing in my summers, I hope that I learn things that I wouldnt have the ability to
during the school year.
My involvement in PRSSA, and any publication Im working on during the school year
will help me have more experience in the PR field and expand my social and writing skills. Im
not 100% sure which publications I want to work on for next semester or the next 6 semesters,
but I think its amazing that I get to choose from all of the amazing publications at ISU. PRSSA
is an extremely beneficial organization for me, due to all of the connections and opportunities it
leads for all PR majors at Iowa State. Im very excited to see where these organizations lead me.
Ultimately my next three and a half years at Iowa State University are going to be very
rewarding and Im very thankful for all of the opportunities here that will lead to strengthening
my leadership abilities and overall personal growth. This place is a gem and I will most
definitely will be remembering this time as one of the most beneficial times in my life.