What Are Our Graduates Doing?
Liz Watterberg
Liz Watterberg, 2003, Communication Studies graduate, is currently teaching 4th grade at Henley Elementary School. She credits much of her success in mediation with a three-course sequence in mediation at Oregon Tech. She firmly believes she has the skills to let students solve their own problems instead of just telling them the right way from an adults perspective. She feels fortunate that her senior project has helped her in learning and recognizing communication apprehension in the classroom. Watterberg states, I am more aware from my project that just because a child cant answer a question, doesnt mean that that student hasnt learned the answer. I can assess learning styles of my students more effectively from my communication degree courses at Oregon Tech and my senior project. She shared her paper at the Northwest Conference in Coeur dAlene, ID and felt this was a rewarding experience as an undergraduate student. She also says, So many of us didnt understand why we needed so many writing courses [at OIT]. However, as a classroom teacher, Ive seen that writing is one of the most critical and difficult skills to teach younger students. I am certainly more prepared to teach writing than many of my colleagues in my Master of Arts in Teaching program from SOU.
Carola Rouls
Carola Roufs, 2003, Communication Studies graduate, is currently working as a Media Consultant for Wynne Broadcasting. She writes press releases and proposals, and creates advertisements for a wide variety of clients. She attributes her success to strong technical writing skills learned from taking several technical communication courses; and her active participation in Oregon Tech student media. Carola was involved in the student radio station, KTEC, where she worked as a DJ and station manager; and The Edge student newspaper, where she worked as a staff writer and photographer. In addition to her full-time position at Wynne, she uses her communication skills as a freelance writer and designer. In particular, Carola credits the Document Design and the Visual Communication courses for her freelance success. She has produced brochures and PowerPoint presentations for the public school district, created a logo for Modoc Northern Railroad, written and published news stories for MSN.com and the local community newspaper, [Herald & News], and published her photographs in newspapers and two photography journals.
I thought my degree would help me get a job in one particular area, but I have had the opportunity to use a variety of the knowledge I gained, such as technical writing, journalism, public relations, desktop publishing, and broadcasting to market myself in several venues.