I am currently a first year grad student at Hawaii Pacific University pursuing a Masters in Military and Diplomacy Studies. I earned my BA in Communication Studies from Portland State University in Oregon. There, I focused on public relations and media studies as well as issues of inter-cultural and political communication. It is my goal to serve as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department upon completion of my MA.
I also served as a Peer Mentor for the Communication Studies Department. Here, I assisted other students with preparing speeches and presentations, the entire writing process from brainstorming ideas to editing, and just negotiating college life in general. I am experienced with many styles of writing, from press releases and journalisitc writing to more formal academic writing. Most of my experience is using APA styles.
I was also a Teaching Assistant for a class entitled Communication in Groups. Because the nature of the class was group work, there was not so much in the way of formal lecture. I primarily assisted the instructor by cycling through each group in the class and being available for questions or concept clarification. I also wrote and graded portions of the mid-term and final-exam.
I also worked as a Public Affairs Intern with Metro, a regional government in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. Here I wrote many press releases, newsletter and brochure content, and a handful of information articles that were published in Portland's Home Builder's Association's monthly newspaper.
Prior to returning to school fo finish my BA, I worked at sea as an entertainment technician for a major cruise line. I have just over 4 years of work experience in technical theater. Prior to joining the cruise lines, I was a theater arts major and have 2 years of classroom experience, at the collge level, in acting as well.