Post #1

My name is Gracy Hardin and I'm a second semester senior from Avon, Connecticut. I am an Advertising & Public Relations major with a concentration in creative advertising. While I originally wanted to go into advertising, later in my college career I took a Criminology course and it sparked interest. After some time exploring this interest and doing research, I decided that I want to pursue a career as a private investigator. It was too late to change my major, so I decided to finish earning my degree in this category. While it seems like my major and aspiring career are totally unrelated, I have been pleasantly surprised to find that my courses offer me plenty of information that could be useful. We learn a lot about how people's minds work, typically through the lens of trying to appeal to them, but the information at its root is incredibly interesting and I think I will definitely utilize it.

One thing I have enjoyed about my concentration in particular is the amount of art and art related classes that make up my requirements. I like getting to think creatively and I find that many art courses are more engaging and hands on. While I don't know if these courses will help me with private investigation specifically, but many of my professors have gone over the cognitive benefits of cultivating and developing creativity. That is one thing I am hoping to gain from this course.

Upon going to the first class and reading over the syllabus, it seems like this class has a lot of unique projects which involve out of the box thinking. I like that the class structure is atypical in the sense that we don't have exams. That isn't just because I appreciate not having to study for them, but because I tend to like project-based courses much more. I feel like it is more productive to use the knowledge I have gained to create something than to simply regurgitate a bunch of notes onto a piece of paper every couple of weeks. I am hoping that I will gain a better understanding and new ideas of how to use technology in a creative way, even if I end up using these skills as more of a brain exercise or for leisure rather than in my future career. But then again who knows, maybe I will change my mind one day and go into advertising after all. For now, I am just excited to learn more about a topic I am already interested in.