Reflective Essay
I am a Public Relations major, and realizing I had to take some Advertising, I was a bit apprehensive. It’s not really my expertise, although I do acknowledge that Public Relations and Advertising go hand-in-hand. Anyway, what I actually achieved through Creative Concepts was more than I expected. I have never considered myself creative, and honestly still don’t. However, this class MORE than helped. It opened my mind, helped me “think outside the box”, and made me realize that I do have a creative side; it just needs to be explored.
As soon as Professor Cal walked in the class and greeted us with her energetic smile, I knew this class would be more than a simple read-the-book, complete-your-assignments, and go-home kind of class. The syllabus itself was more interesting than any other I’d encountered in my four years at FIU. “Environmental outings” was the first section that caught my attention. What? I had to visit places outside of class? For what! Interviews, presentations, and a JOURNAL? Okay, so I thought I was in way over my head. There was way much more creativity on a single piece of paper than I had even bargained for, but I kept an open mind and listened.
Professor Cal took an interest in learning our names and had us write them out on a paper to keep as name tags during class until she learned them, which didn’t take her very long either. The class was a very personal experience. Each day in class, I grew creatively. There were three in-class assignments that stood out to me, which I liked (other than the main projects).
The first set of assignments I remember doing was to pick out ads (excluding beauty and liquor) that we liked and didn’t like. Next, we were supposed to explain the headline, tag line, and body of the message. Automatically, doing these exercises made me feel more comfortable speaking to the class as a group of friends learning with and from each other. For one specific one, the ad we didn’t like, I had to pair up with another student Phil. With his witty humor and easygoing personality, he wasn’t hard to work with, and we easily came up with an alternative ad for our client Rembrandt.
The next set of assignments was brainstorming. One day, Professor Cal walked in with a green pool floating tube and told us to come up with ONE HUNDRED different uses for the tube. I didn’t expect to be able to, which I didn’t because my hand couldn’t write fast enough, but the words and ideas just flowed onto the paper: teleportation device, telephone, rainbow arc, hula hoop, etc. Hearing others’ ideas was interesting as well.
Lastly, the class had to write a short story (paragraph or so) using a completely random set of words. I actually loved how my story, The Suicidal Banana, turned out. I was able to work with Cedric on it, and although our ideas completely clashed, he was a great partner! Those three set of assignments definitely contributed most to expanding my creativity in this class.
During most of the second half of the semester, my classmates and I discussed our Creative Interviews on who we thought was an expert in the creative field and our Very Creative Person Presentations. The second half I probably only continued to grow in my creative side through my journal entries but appreciated all the knowledge I was gaining listening to others’ presentations and researching creative people myself. I enjoyed interviewing someone, decided on the fact that this is probably something I will further explore in the future.
All in all, the professor and my classmates were a complete joy to meet and become familiar with. Hopefully, most of us can keep in touch in the future and possibly continue to network as well. This is the most real and useful class I have had. Thanks to everyone for contributing to a semester SUPER well spent!
