Story of the Semester

A bunch of beauties. PHOTO/JAMES TURNER

By Scott Billeck

I could have cried today.

Not because I was depressed, or the cat I don’t own died or Liverpool got knocked out of the Champions League (maybe a single tear there).

Nope.

I could have cried today because it is the last day I will be in school with all the lovely people from Section 1 of Red River College’s Creative Communications program.

Sounds a little dramatic, eh? I’d have thought so too a few short months ago. Honestly, I came into CreComm with one thing on my mind: getting a degree and getting the hell out of Dodge. I didn’t care if I made friends or if I socialized with anyone. I just wanted to keep my head down, work hard, and keep working in the field I already was.

That lasted about a week or so.

The thing about being together with people for 30-40 hours a week—sometimes more—is you are forced to get to know them. Granted, Red River does a good job of making sure you get to know people, but it’s just natural after a while.

And so we did. We got to know each other, scratching the surface and then digging a little deeper. We found people who we connected with and then dug another few inches, peeling off more of the surface. Then we went to battle.

Streeters, elections, debates, plays, beers, food, breakfast, lunch and supper. It made being at school easier. It made 8 a.m. mornings manageable. It made three-hour classes go by without too many hitches. There were hugs, laughs, sweat and tears. It was a riot, and it was fun.

When the calendar reads 2015 in a few weeks, only a third of our hallowed section will move on together, but what won’t move on, I hope, is the friendships that we have made.

I’m no valedictorian. I’m not one for school spirit and hurrahs and high fives. But I am for relationships and lifelong friendships that hopefully will transcend leather couches, cardboard pizza and Merc Dogs.

I have fond memories of the past four months. Screaming at printers, swearing at computer screens and hating on assignments. But you always did that beside someone else. We were always together, always supportive of one another. You had a question, someone had an answer. There was genuine care.

Maybe it’s good to have a break. I start a three-week internship at the Winnipeg Free Press on Monday. Aside from all that comes with that, it will hopefully give me some time to get over the loss of some good people.

I have my own personal goals. But now I am rooting for 20 or so other people in theirs and I do so proudly.

I love you all.

Personal Brand: A Prezi for you

By Scott Billeck

This week in CreComm led me down the personal brand road. A personal brand, essentially, is who you are, what you believe in and what you can do. It’s basically a time to be professionally cocky.

I also used Prezi, pretty much PowerPoint on steroids, but with an incredible ease of use.

So my blog post this week is a positive one. Here is my Prezi presentation.

http://prezi.com/hns11ikp8szf/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy