Letter to Cousin

Hey Katreasha!

I haven’t talked to you in quite awhile, probably since our last family party! I just wanted to drop you an email and let you that things are going so great up here at Utah State. I’m taking a lot of classes for my major, which if you didn’t know, is public relations. It’s in the journalism department where I’ll be spending most of my time this year.

Usually when I tell people I’m majoring in public relations, their first response is, “What is that?” So I’ll go ahead and save myself some time and explain to you what public relations is. People who work in Public Relations are often very socially oriented and have perfected communication skills. Public relations, or PR, are hired by companies in need of someone to relay their information in a positive way to the public. They help the company make the public aware of their quality products or ideas.

When I first heard about PR, I thought the job would mostly entail talking to people all day and telling them how to better their company. I shortly discovered that PR involves a LOT of writing. PR writers have to be well acquainted with the company and its products, and have an understanding of what consumers invested in the company are in need of. Writing was something I was always neutral about, but now I’m developing a love for it. My professors are great teachers and I’m working really hard on my writing skills!

As you probably will be doing in the next few years when you get into high school, research is a big component in PR writing. PR’s have to be able to pull research from all other types of fields and determine what is or isn’t important to their company. There is so much information available now from the use of the internet and it only continues to grow. Research is a very valuable to PR writers and I can’t wait to be doing more of it.

PR isn’t just working for a company though. Other options are working in advertising, event planning, political advising, or working for a PR firm. I plan on going into the event planning side of it. Maybe I’ll start using my skills and plan our upcoming Christmas party! Anyways, let me know how your first week of school went and maybe you should consider going into PR yourself! Talk to you soon!

Love you much, Megan