From the 'Boroughs to Boston

Hello again! It’s been a while since we’ve chatted; I previously wrote for Northborough Patch during my years at Algonquin Regional High School. I’m now a junior (almost senior!) at Emerson College in Boston, and many of the skills I learned at Algonquin helped me transition into college and professional communities.

You might have known me as the manager of the gymnastics team and the boy’s track team. You could also find me wearing a Panera uniform and asking if you would like “bread, chips, or an apple?” with your “You Pick 2.” As a senior in high school, you’d often find me in Mrs. Zanini’s classroom putting the finishing touches on the yearbook. I pursued marketing in college in the hopes of matching my writing skills with my business interests. Hindsight 20/20, I made the right choice.

3 years into college, I currently wear a few hats other than student. I am the Marketing Director for Emerson Channel Sports (ECS), a sports broadcast organization at Emerson College responsible for live streams of home volleyball and basketball games, as well as live social media and photography coverage for home sporting events. We’ve grown from a modest organization of a handful of students to over 35 active participants. Currently, our largest undertaking is a crowdfunding campaign to update our broadcast equipment. It’s an exciting time for us as Emerson College develops a sports communication minor and is rumored to be working on a major. It’s an organization I’m proud to be a part of, especially because I didn’t anticipate working in an athletic community at the collegiate level.

Going from high school to college was a transition, and although I liked Emerson, not all the days were smooth. I missed the sports community of Algonquin where 65% of the student body participated in athletics. At Emerson, sports tend to be the underdog. I expected to pursue other opportunities, but it was inevitable that I return to athletics given my past experience with high school teams. I also quickly picked up another interest--digital marketing.

Did you know the average salary for a social media manager, the person tweeting for your favorite brands, is $69,000 in Boston? That is one of many jobs that has emerged thanks to new technology. I contract both as the Marketing and Social Media Manager for Hair We Are, a lovely hair and nail salon in Westborough, and a Search Engine Optimization Specialist (SEO) at Wakefly, a web development firm just down Route 9 from the salon. My work in SEO means that websites are easier to find and navigate for both humans and search engines. Moral of the story: don’t dismiss these new social networks. Your tech-savvy teenager could build a career off of it.

An understanding of technology isn’t the only skill I’ve needed to navigate marketing conferences and the larger professional scene in Boston, and many of those came from Algonquin. In Ms. Ferreira’s Multimedia Career Development, I learned to write cover letters and resumes, refine my interview style, and shake hands. Those first impressions make a world of difference, and I’ve since lent my templates and designs from that class to my peers as they prepare for job hunts.

The public speaking lessons I learned with Ms. Salt and Ms. Morrison prove invaluable in my workshops for ECS and Wakefly. Ms. Betar’s writing courses taught me how to construct everything from blogs like this one to critical academic analyses.

Even the courses that I found less enjoyable have paid off. Math usually sat in almost last place amongst favorite courses; now I’m crunching numbers for marketing campaigns. I have a skill set to use data analytics tools and measure results. Determining return on investment is the sole most important ability in marketing, and Algonquin prepared me to handle it.

I’m thankful for the education I received in Northborough’s school system because it is helping me in the years since commencement. If you’re a student or a parent wondering if this education will really prepare you for college and work, I’m evidence that it will. The old cliché the guidance counselors tell you is true: you get out of it what you put into it.

Do you have questions for me? Leave them in the comments or find me on Twitter. I’m happy to answer any inquiries from students and about life in Boston!