On a personal level, I am entering college in hopes of discovering more about myself and more about the world that surrounds me. I hope to gain insight about myself, and in turn, learn more about what I want professionally in my life. College will hopefully be the first step in this process. I know as I make these discoveries, I will deal with bumps along the way, and I hope to take each of those in stride. Also, I aspire to risk more, whether that be with the classes I take, the internships I apply for, or the organizations I join.

On a professional level, I want to explore the communications field, the public relations field, and the textile and apparel merchandising field in more detail. I have finally discovered that these are the fields that interest me most. They are also the fields that I desire to work in. One of my most prominent goals I desire to accomplish is obtaining at least one, if not more, internships that directly involve event planning, as that is the career I am most interested in. Hopefully by successfully completing these internships, I will have gained a deeper knowledge of the field, will have networked and created relationships with those directly in the field, and will have begun building a career of my own.

Ashley Fitzgerald