It goes without saying (well, I’m saying it, really) that any and all entries, tweets, and other social media buzzing coming from me do not represent the views of my employer.

Now that that’s out of that way… I’m thrilled! Tomorrow I begin my marketing internship with the Consumer Electronics Association (thanks so much to @jp1113 for letting me know about the opportunity!). I’m not entirely sure what to expect, but I’m excited for the opportunity to work in a slightly different field (in other words, not PR) and I know my experiences in the past will help me out a lot as I take on new challenges and responsibilities.

As many of you know, I’ve already begun my duties as the Social Media Director for TechChange, and we’ll be launching our social media presence soon (and rest assured you’ll hear plenty about us). I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be a busy summer! But I’m excited about everything I’ve got going on and think I’ll have some opportunities to do some amazing work.

Speaking of work and interning, be sure you check out the AU Intern Blog, where I’ll be blogging periodically throughout the summer. I might also have a few other guest blogging appearances–I’ll let you know more about them as I find out more in the next few weeks!

To talk about college this way may sound élitist. It may even sound philistine, since the purpose of a liberal-arts education is to produce well-rounded citizens rather than productive workers. But perhaps it is more foolishly élitist to think that going to school until age 22 is necessary to being well-rounded, or to tell millions of kids that their future depends on performing a task that only a minority of them can actually accomplish.

Well, he’s right on that first point. It does sound élitist. It does sound philistine. But the sheer gumption of saying it’s élitist to encourage kids to get a college education? That’s absolute insanity.

The author seems to subscribe to the viewpoint that people are born with certain abilities. That some people are just destined for greatness, while others will be trapped in the lower-class culture of our society. He’s simply wrong.

I grew up in rural Kentucky. I come from an upper-middle class, pretty average family. I’ve been blessed–and a fair bit lucky–but one of the primary reasons I have been as successful as I’ve been is thanks to my education and my college experience so far, at American University.

And it’s not just me. I’ve seen friends from lower-class, lower-middle class, and even upper-class go from unsavory circumstances to college, and they’re achieving greatness as we speak. Will they be CEOs, Senators, Presidents or entrepreneurs? Not necessarily. But their advanced education is giving them the knowledge they need to keep pushing our country forward.

Let’s look at it from a macro-level. Look at the United States in comparison to Asian countries’ performance in math, statistics, engineering, and the sciences. We lag behind–sometimes by a significant margin. Sure we’ve got the economic advantage, the legacy of being the world’s largest superpower, and a fair bit of innovation under our belts, but who says that will last forever? And at the rate countries like China and India are growing, progressing, and, in many ways, catching up to us, shows that more advanced education is the only argument we should be making.

The bipartisanship on the need for education is one of the few bright spots of cooperation you can find in our government right now. Who in their right mind could argue against that?

Ponnuru is missing the point. Sure, there are some people in college right now who might not be able to handle it. But is the answer to just give up, an stop sending them to college altogether? Is the answer just to let them stop learning, to go work on the farm, to grab a job collecting garbage or clerking grocery stores? No, no, no, no and NO.

The solution to this problem is obvious. Ponnuru even says it flat out in his article: “We could probably increase the number of high school seniors who are ready to go to college — and likely to make it to graduation — if we made the K-12 system more academically rigorous.” But then he goes on to refute his own point, dismissively saying “college isn’t for everyone.”

College isn’t for everyone now because our high schools aren’t doing their job. College isn’t for everyone because our education system is up to par for the greatness of America. College isn’t for everyone because idiots like this are writing articles arguing against it, with absolutely zero rational, empirical, or substantiated points to base their argument on.

Anyway, this is a quickie. Just wanted to point out that from now on I will be writing for not only this blog, but also two other blogs! First, I’ll be contributing to the brand spanking new Shamable.com, written as a guide for public relations and communications professionals, with a more serious, realistic take to the industry than some other blogs that may or may not have been spoofed for the title. The people contributing to this blog are top-notch, triple-A professionals with fantastic ideas and brilliant track-records.

I’m honored to be a part of their site and I hope I can provide some valuable input from my student perspective! Be sure to check out my first entry on the blog (more to come this week), about teaching social media (professors, pay attention to that one).

Secondly, I will now be writing for the AU Intern Blog for the American University Career Center. There I’ll be reflecting on my internship experience this semester at MS&L Worldwide as well as some other random internship-related thoughts that might be bumping around in my head. I’ve actually written two posts for it just tonight, you can see my introduction here and my comments on the TechCrunch intern “scandal” here.

I’ll do my best to note on here when I’ve made some significant contributions to the other two blogs, but please add them to your RSS reader (and me, for that matter!) and keep your eyes peeled for new updates from me and my fellow contributors. Thanks, as always, for reading. Tomorrow evening I’ll have a recap of the fantastic panel event I attended this morning as well as some thoughts on what may be in store, in the near term, for my future (might be a bit vague!).

[Shamable]
[AU Intern Blog]

After a stinging loss in Massachusetts, miserable polling and ever-lower expectations for the November midterm elections, there has been plenty of advice going around for Democrats. Last week, I counted no less than five such articles and editorials in Sunday’s Washington Post.

Miraculously, President Barack Obama seems to be changing the game. His State of the Union address, high-speed rail announcement and “question time” at the GOP retreat were three powerful wins in a row for him and for the Democratic party.

But not all is well and good. To fully recover from the recent tailspin of negative coverage, one person in particular needs to straighten up. The Obama administration’s main spokesman for the press, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, simply hasn’t been doing his job well. I’ve got some tips.

Dear Mr. Gibbs,

Quit pissing off the press. Sound complicated? It’s not.

It’s no secret the Obama White House has been getting more and more negative coverage by the press in recent days. Sure, there’s a lot of bad news being steered in your direction, but a press that gets along well with the press secretary might be a bit more inclined to break bad news more gently.

The press isn’t irritated with President Obama himself. Nor are they against his policies. Many journalists, statistically speaking, lean left anyway. In fact, I’m sure they quite like him as a person, too. According to a poll from late December, 58 percent of all Americans hold a favorable opinion of him personally.

This is all about the communicator. That’s you, Mr. Gibbs. You’re getting on their nerves, and because of that, you’re failing at your job to communicate White House policy effectively. Two weeks ago Dana Milbank at the Washington Post wrote a scathing column criticizing your “usual mix of wisecracks of insults,” your “glib Gibbs gibes,” and referring to you as “smart-alecky” and “combative.” Not good.

Then the weekend after that, liberal MSNBC news and radio host Ed Schultz told the nation about an unpleasant encounter with you. He told you that you were “full of sh-t”, and then you dropped the f-bomb right back.

Now you’re saying Mr. Schultz was misleading viewers in order to “get viewers to watch his show.” Not cool, Mr. Gibbs. Not cool at all.

There are three things you need to do to get out of the White House Press Corps’ doghouse.

First, quit being so political. You’re the press secretary. Yes, you should defend the administration, but you’re not campaigning anymore. Give them the news, answer the questions and spin as necessary. Don’t campaign — you already work in the White House; you can worry about re-election next year. Focus on your message, not everyone else’s.

Secondly, chillax. Not every question is an attack on Obama, and if you keep snapping at the media, they aren’t going to be nice to you in their columns that they write in newspapers with far more readers than this one.

Finally, give the press the respect they deserve. These people are keeping you relevant. And for the most part, they’re also being nice to the Obama administration; in 2009 they gave you the most balanced coverage in history, about 49 percent positive and 51 percent negative, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs. If you want anything close to that in 2010, you’d better shape up.

Your bad attitude only results in one thing and that’s more columns like this. Obama’s doing a nice job recovering — don’t ruin it for him.

First, D.C. Media Makers! I attended my first event on Wednesday evening at NPR’s headquarters here in Washington, and it was fantastic! Got to see some very cool people I’ve gotten to know over the past few weeks, and got to hear the amazing Jen Consalvo (@noreaster on Twitter) speak about her photography work, how to get into photography, and some tips on how to get better shots–even on an iPhone (for what it’s worth, she recommended CameraBag as excellent filter app, pretty cool!).

As a side note on DCMM, this semester I’ve obviously been trying to get out in the city and meet people, go to events, hear speakers, get involved in unconferences, etc. It’s already paying off, and in a big, big way. I’ve met some absolutely amazing people and developed some good friendships already. I feel like I can go to any event now and usually see someone I know. This city is huge, but the community is smaller than it seems, and everyone has been so incredibly welcoming! I can’t encourage my fellow students, and professionals, enough: get out there and take advantage of this amazing city. Meet some of the incredible professionals out here and say hi, get to know them. I know I’ve learned so much just in the past few weeks from these people, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Thanks so much to all of you who’ve taught me, even indirectly, and I’m already looking forward to the next event!

Now, in a more general life update, things have been pretty crazy for me lately. School is piling on the work and the reading, and unfortunately that still has to be pretty much priority number one. However, there’s a couple cool things happening in my life:

• Soon I will be contributing my first post (of many, hopefully) to shamable.com. Seeking to be the no-B.S. guide to social media, it’s a new Web site being developed by some of the best people in the business. I’m seriously honored to be a part of it and I’m hoping I can make some valuable contributions from my perspective as a student here in D.C. during this social media revolution.
• I’m hard at work on my communications honors capstone. The first of two (I’ll do my business honors capstone next year), I’m really excited about the project and overjoyed that I have an absolutely amazing professor advising me with it. The project will ultimately be a social media case study in digital form, and will be appended to this Web site. Expect plenty of updates on that throughout the semester, especially towards the latter end of it.
• Internships, scholarships, awards, oh my! Yes indeed, it’s already that time and applications are littering my desk. This weekend I hope to make a fair bit of headway into scholarship applications for my senior year (gasp, can’t believe it’s almost here already) and internship applications for the summer. Speaking of which–do you know of any opportunities (preferably paid) for a young communications professional to work over the summer? Location not a factor, let me know! All tips are sincerely appreciated!
• It looks like it’s going to be a busy Saturday for me, as I’ve already got several things on the docket. In the morning I’m hoping to get down to the Washington Auto Show, especially since it’s garnered so much buzz this year. At 1:00pm I’ll be heading over to Politics & Prose bookstore here in northwest Washington for an event with one of my former professors, Robert Lehrman. He just had his book on speechwriting published (it’s amazing, by the way) and I’m eager to say hi again! Finally, Saturday night at 5pm the AU PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) will be holding a networking event at American University. If you’re a communications professional in the area and would be interested and coming to network with some eager public communications students, please let me know! We’d love to have you (and there will be free food).

And alas, I think that’s all I have time for this morning. I hope everyone has a fantastic day!

A few key quotes (links are mine):

Finding and landing an internship is a lot like finding a job; it requires a lot of research, persistence and networking. “The earlier you start, the better — the more choices you have,” said Mary Ryan, president of the Washington Internship Institute, which runs area internship programs for smaller universities.

Students, start at your college or university career center to identify resources and key dates. “If you’re on the career services director’s radar,” you’re at the forefront when opportunities open up, said Yazad Dalal…

Looking for internships in DC creates sort of a love/hate relationship between the student and the process. One one hand, there are a lot of internships to be found here in the District. Every single department of the government has them, along with every nonprofit, lawyer, lobbyist, public relations agency and financial firm in town. But it is competitive, make no mistake.

Last Spring I applied for over 40 internships. I heard back from three of them. That’s about the kind of response rate you can expect, generally (unless you’re just really lucky). Thankfully, all the internships I have landed have been absolutely amazing, but I’m probably considered one of the lucky ones.

But the article is right, too–just keep working hard and hunting them down, and you’ll get it. It’s really more a matter of effort than luck. For what it’s worth, I’ve posted the resources The Washington Post referenced in their article below (since they didn’t bother linking to them on their online version of the article), as well as a few resources I personally recommend (which I think are better, too). Good luck internship-hunting!

Evidently–and I wish I’d known this before I spent several hours work into the article–columnists aren’t allowed to report for The Eagle too. It’s one or the other. Either/or. Pick one, not two, “you can’t have it both ways.” I had wondered, at first, because I knew that major publications often had similar restrictions. However, this being a little university newspaper–and the editor and staff not questioning my authority to write an article–I figured it must be alright, in this circumstance.

Not so. After researching, interviewing, writing and finally submitting my piece, I was called the next day to hear that my piece would not be run, since I’m a columnist, too. Honestly, I think it’s a stupid rule–the article was written perfectly objectively, in my humble opinion, and I’ve separated the views of my column clearly from the information conveyed in my article. But nonetheless, it’s not going to happen. Because it’s not going to happen, I’m going to publish my article here. It sure won’t get as many eyeballs here as it would have in a print edition of The Eagle, but it’s better than nothing. Read it, if you like, and let me know what you think in the comments. I always appreciate feedback. Check it out below the cut.

Confidence abounds for AU’s financial future, despite other colleges’ worries

American University officials are confident 2010 will be another successful year, despite pessimism by many other colleges. Successful progress toward the AnewAU development campaign, an upgraded bond rating, and official university financial documents all point toward a similarly positive outlook.

At a meeting of the Council of Independent Colleges in early January more than 60 college presidents gathered for discussion on the rough economy’s impact on their schools.

“There is a theory that fall 2010 is going to be the hard one,” said Paul Hennigan, president of Point Park University, in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about the event. AU President Cornelius Kerwin was not in attendance for the meeting but his comments in his Dec. 4 “End of Semester Update” contradict the sentiment.

“The condition of our university remains strong,” he said. “The enrollment trends… have not changed, and we remain on track to operate within our revenue and expenditure targets for the current fiscal year.”

Kerwin is not the only one confident about AU’s future. Thomas Minar, AU’s Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations, considers the university to be “very fortunate to be in the position we’re in.” As the man in charge of the AnewAU fundraising campaign, he said he’s been pleased to see development performing even better than in 2008.

The AnewAU campaign launched in October of 2003 with the goal of $200 million. Now the campaign has reached $196.2 million and is in its final stages. Minar said cash proceeds in December were “considerably higher than other years” and emphasized that “AU is in as good or better shape as any of our peers.”

AnewAU is “very focused on raising money for the SIS building,” he said, referring to the 70,000 square foot new building for AU’s School of International Service. The school has only raised approximately half of its $25 million goal, according to the SIS Web site. Minar said that as the building nears completion there will be more focus on fundraising for new School of Communications facilities. Students will hear “significant news” about SOC facilities in the first half of 2010.

Standard & Poor’s Rating Services expressed confidence in AU and upgraded AU’s bond rating from A to A+ in December. AU was one of only 12 institutions–one of only two private–to receive an upgrade from S&P in 2009.

“We have been operating with a financial management strategy for some time that has taken a very conservative approach that I believe is helping us,” said Don Myers, AU’s Vice President of Finance and Treasurer, in an “Inside Higher Ed” article on the bond upgrade.

AU’s 2008-2009 Annual Report and 2010-2011 Budget echo the confidence of the university administration.

“Never has our future been brighter than it is at this moment,” said Gary Abramson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, in his introduction to the Annual Report. Other language in the report states confidently, “we [AU] are on the cusp of greatness.”

The Budget had good news too, especially for faculty and staff. In an economy where many schools are laying off staff and freezing salaries, AU is doing the opposite. The school has set aside money for a 3.0% performance-based salary and benefits increase for both fiscal years 2010 and 2011. In addition, $2.6 million has been set aside to hire 23 new tenure and tenure-track faculty over the next two years.

Work today was good. I won’t delve into that much more because before too long I’m going to be writing blog posts for the American University Career Center about my internship experience, which I’ll crosspost here. After work, I attended my very first ever Social Media Club DC event, and it was fantastic! The event was held at the Consumer Electronics Association headquarters in Arlington and featured two speakers from the CEA, Megan Pollock and Joe Gizzi, as well as Frank Gruber, entrepreneur and co-founder of TECHcocktail, shinyheart and thankfulfor, among others.

But enough links and name-dropping–what did they talk about? Well, fresh back from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, they talked about tech of course! And, naturally, how it all fits in with social media. Joe Gizzi, especially, had some really interesting things to say about the CEA’s social media strategy to build buzz and deal with attendee complaints/suggestions at the conference. He talked about software they use (namely, CoTweet) as well as how they keep track of much of their dizzying analytics (mostly Google Analytics and CoTweet). For the next few days, you can see some of the livestream from the event here on Twitter. Needless to say, it was enlightening and fun, and I’m already looking forward to the next SMC-DC event (which just so happens to be a Social Media Breakfast next Monday morning!).

Anyway, one last thing I’ll leave you with–an entry from One Day At A Time In Al-Anon. No, I’m not crazy. I just picked it up for free at the Social Justice Camp last weekend (they were giving out free books–all in the name of literacy!) because it looked like a fun thing to have on my bookshelf. It provides some inspirational little passages for each and every day of the year, and today’s seemed particularly relevant given my hectic schedule as of late. Here it is:

No matter what the problems are that we’re trying to cope with, a major source of frustration is trying to encompass too much at once. We forget that we need to deal with only one day at a time, and try to crowd too much into the waking hours of that day–or we even extend it beyond the point of weariness. We can get more out of each hour–and accomplish more–if we try to cope with only as much as is possible in that one day.

Appropriate, no? Always learning.

My column is titled “Unsolicited Advice”, meaning that it’s advice for people who haven’t really asked for it (and might not even want it) but I’m giving it to them anyway. Check the link above to read my first column, advice for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, or click the “read more” to read it here on my blog. Comments are always appreciated!

Thanks for taking the time to read my first column. Every other week on this page you’ll read my unsolicited advice to those who – I believe – need it the most. They may not think they need it. They may not want it. And they might even be a little pissed that a college student would think himself precocious enough to write something like this. But here I am, and I’m going to tell it like I see it.

Dear Sen. Harry Reid:

Students, you might think you know where this is going already. If you’ve followed politics at all lately you know that Mr. Reid has gotten himself in some boiling water over a few choice words he used in reference to President Obama during the 2008 campaign (namely, “light-skinned” and “negro dialect”). Amidst calls for him to retire, a never-ending battle for health care reform and abysmal polling in Nevada, it’s beginning to look like Reid is being shown the door.

I beg to differ.

Sen. Reid, this isn’t over yet. You can still bring this campaign back from the grave. But you need to make some changes.

First, fire your campaign manager, Brandon Hall. Apprentice-style, if you will. A quick look at his campaign experience, and I think it’s easy to see he’s not the best person for the job. After running an unsuccessful campaign for a special election House seat in 2006, he ran the campaign for Mark Begich in Alaska against former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

“But Begich won the race!” you might protest. Of course. But he won by only the slimmest of margins — less than 4,000 votes — and let’s not forget he was running against a convicted felon.

Experienced? Accomplished? Not even. And the way he’s run your campaign so far proves it. Find someone new.

Second on your to-do list should be to get aggressive with your public relations tactics.

You’re being bombarded with bad press. As if the scandals, tear-jerking polling statistics and problems on the hill weren’t enough, now The Washington Post is even saying you and your son Rory — running for Governor of Nevada — are a burden to each other. Don’t believe it, work together with Rory to fight back hard.

This is a Nevada election. Get local. Get aggressive and don’t let the press dictate your strategy.

Last but by no means least, get online. With it being 2010 and all, your social media presence is laughable. On Facebook you have only 3,374 fans. And your staff doesn’t even try to pretend it’s you updating. They even refer to you in the third person.

Twitter is almost as bad. Only 5,508 followers, updates that look like headlines ripped out of a press release and zero interaction with your constituency.

Don’t forget, it’s not just fundraising that will win you this election. You have to reach out and connect with your voters. Services like Twitter and Facebook provide an awesome opportunity to do just that.

Good luck, Sen. Reid. You’ll need it.

First, classes are still going well. My class this morning–Organizational Behavior (basically a management class)–looks like it’ll at least be useful, and the professor seems super-nice.

Second, I started my internship today and it’s fantastic! I’m interning for the PR agency MS&L Worldwide here in D.C. this semester and I’m thrilled about the opportunity. Today was pretty low-key, just getting set-up and the like, but the people are really great and I can already tell I’m going to learn a lot with this experience. It’s totally different from all the other internships I’ve had so far, but I’m excited about the challenge, too.

Finally, I ended up on the front page of AU’s Web site for a while today, in a story about the NYC trip last week. You can see the story–complete with pictures, a quote from right here in my blog and a link back to my Web site–right here.