凯特林•奈
作为一名90后，我一直对科技和通过互联网与人们联系很感兴趣。从AIM和Myspace到Twitter和Instagram，我沉浸在每个社交平台中，以一个生灵活现的在线人物与我的同龄人互动。
快进到我的研究生生活。我当时正在寻求一个变化，我想把自己的激情投入到社交媒体中，使其成为我的职业生涯。在获得政治学学士学位之后，我觉得需要一些帮助才能实现我的梦想。脸书的一个帖子改变了我的人生。
2016年9月，我在浏览Facebook，看到我的朋友分享的一个关于Valeta Wensloff的链接，后来我发现，她就是密歇根州立大学战略传播的“神仙教母”。
与Valeta见面前，我非常紧张，但在进入她绿蓝色的办公室之后，很快轻松下来。当时，战略传播硕士班还在初创阶段，她详细介绍了这个项目的方方面面。有社交媒体和数字设计课程，有战略思维课程，也有危机传播课程。这个硕士班的确令我心旷神怡，当天我就提交了申请，很快就被录取了。
转眼我已进入战略传播网络硕士班的第三学期了，我一直对这个项目称赞不已。到目前为止所修的课程，大大提高了我在各种数字平台上有效传播与交流的能力。
网络课程让新生开始有些胆怯，但是很快你会发现，全职学员的确可以工作、学习两不误。授课的教授和业界专家全心关注每一位学员，为我们修好每门课可谓尽心尽力。
有人经常问我，网络课程是否缺乏面对面上课的互动。我觉得，参加这个项目的学员通过互联网比我们在课堂有着更多的联系。我们通过留言板和Facebook组群随时交流，在网络空间中完成小组作业。虽然我们的同学们来自东西海岸，但是总能及时解答每位同学的疑问。
参加这个项目以来，我扮演了一个新的传播角色。我知道，如果没有我在这个项目中获取的知识技能，我就不可能获得这个角色、也不可能扮演好这个角色。向前看，我很高兴看到还有很多东西可以学习，但是我也有些难过，因为我很快就要完成了这个使我终身受益的战略传播项目。
去年9月份见到的那份Facebook帖子给我的生活带来这么大变化，有多少人可以这么说呢？
写于2017年10月31日
How One Facebook Post Changed My Life
Kaitlin Nye
As a twenty-something born in the early 90s, I have always been interested in technology and connecting with people over the internet. From AIM and Myspace to Twitter and Instagram, I immersed myself in each platform, creating an online persona to interact with my peers.
Fast forward to my post-graduate life. I was looking for a change and I wanted to take my passion for social media and make it a career. However, with a bachelor’s degree in political science, I was going to need some help to make my dream a reality. Enter a life changing Facebook post.
In September 2016, I was skimming Facebook and a friend of mine posted a link to Valeta Wensloff, or as I would come to find out, the Strategic Communication Fairy Godmother.
I was nervous to meet with Valeta, but after stepping into her turquoise office, I immediately felt at home. The program was still in development, but she filled me in on what was offered. A course on social media and digital design, one on strategic thinking, another on how to communicate when faced with a crisis. I was hooked. I applied to the program that day, just hours after speaking with Valeta, and was accepted soon after.
I am now in my third semester of the Strategic Communication Online Master’s program and I have never stopped singing its praises. The course work I have taken thus far has drastically improved my ability to communicate effectively across digital platforms.
While intimidating at first, the online classes make working full- time with a full course load manageable. The professors and communication professionals who teach the courses are deeply invested in each of us and strive for our overall success.
I am often asked if I miss the connection of taking an in-person class, and to that I respond that I feel the participants in this program are more connected over the internet than we would be in a lecture hall. We connect over message boards and a Facebook group, completing group projects in cyberspace. We are spread out from coast to coast, but are always available to answer a fellow classmate’s question.
Since beginning this program, I have started in a new communications role, one that I know I wouldn’t have been hired for or been able to do without the knowledge I have gained in this program. Moving forward, I am excited to see what is in store, but I am also sad that I am rushing towards the end of a program that has helped me so much.
My life has changed thanks to a Facebook post I came across on that September day. How many people can say that?
October 31, 2017
