About a year ago, Krystal Carty approached me about joining the chapter of Her Campus she was starting. I said yes, figuring I’d help out a friend and add something on my resume- and over the past year, I’ve picked up tonnes of useful skills that have found their place on my resume as well. I’ve learned about everything from how to write for a specific audience to how to promote articles. There have been quite a few things, though, that I wasn’t expecting to gain from this experience- things that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by on the way. Here are five things I’ve learned as a Her Campus Concordia contributor:
- Commitment can be a good thing
I’m a weekly contributor for Her Campus Concordia. Initially, I was hesitant to join because I thought it would be too much of a commitment. I’m the kind of person who hates having long term plans so the idea of saying I would write an article every week during the school year seemed less than ideal. However, I realized if I didn’t have to make that commitment I would probably wouldn’t have written even half as much as I did.
- You have a lot more to write about than you think
This year, I wrote almost 30 articles for Her Campus Concordia. Some weeks, it was hard to think of ideas. Nevertheless, I always found something. I wrote about everything from book reviews to profiles to an apartment-hunting guide. No matter what, there was always something going on around me that I could turn into an article.
- Deadlines help with work ethic
Every week articles are due Saturday at five p.m. In the past, I would procrastinate on schoolwork until the last minute. Having a consistent deadline helped me work to keep all my other assignments on track. Because of the fact that I knew I had to work around finishing an article, I found myself making to-do lists so that I would stay on top of everything.
- Having an outlet is important
There’s something to be said for work that isn’t related to school or a job. With Her Campus, I’ve been able to write about what I want. While I’m passionate about my degree, it’s been so nice to get to write about something outside of what I’m studying. Her Campus has been an ideal outlet for researching and writing about things that interest me.
- You learn so many useful facts
Going off of the last point, I’ve learned a lot about things I probably wouldn’t have spent time looking into was it not for Her Campus. I’ve had the chance to speak to student artists and learn background information on books I’m reviewing. Writing articles pushes me to research and learn about stories.