Bye Bye Junior Year!
Wow! What a year this has been. I am currently sitting on the floor of my room in my junior year college house because we have packed up most of my furniture - including my bed and all the chairs in the house. It’s very bittersweet to be moving out of my junior year house as it symbolizes that I am three quarters of the way done with college and technically considered a college senior now! And that’s absolutely crazy. This year has been so incredible and I truly feel like I have grown so much as a person throughout the ups and downs of being a junior. In this blog post, I’ll do a little overview of some of things, both personal and business, that happened throughout my junior year!
Last August I moved into my first house! At Miami, you are required to live in a dorm for two years so this was the first time I’d ever lived totally on my own. I absolutely loved getting to decorate my room and make it my own little creative work space. There’s only so much personalization you can do in a dorm room so I was crazy excited to get to make my room exactly the way I wanted to. It included blush pink, navy, white, darker wood furniture, and rose gold accents.
Fall semester design wise was not a busy semester. It was our more relaxed semester for design classes so people had the opportunity to study abroad. However, I took the opportunity to finish up my classes for my entrepreneurship minor! Miami has an arts entrepreneurship minor where I take classes in both the business school and the college of creative arts. During the fall I took creativity in entrepreneurship, finance, and marketing. These classes were definitely very challenging for me yet I feel like I learned a lot! The creativity in entrepreneurship class constantly kicked my butt but also pushed me to improve myself as a designer, creative, and person. It was in this class that I did a #SpreadKhindness project and lettered on a globe!
To see my instagram post explaining my Khindness Day, click here!
Right after Christmas, I took a trip to Disney with some of my favorite people! I went with my family and our “family friends” who are more like family too. It was a busy vacation full of so much fun, memories, amazing food, and of course, all the disney magic.
Miami has what we call “J-Term” where we have a six week winter break. That may seem suuuper long, and to be honest, it can feel that way! However, I really like the long break. It allows me time to celebrate the holidays without feeling rushed and gives me time to reset before the busy spring semester. Spring semester includes sorority recruitment, internship hunting, and an overall busy time so I like having that time to prepare! This J-Term was spent working on my little side hustle and building my website. At the end of January, I officially launched my website! This was a big step in growing my personal brand and my confidence in my brand. I decided “Bold” is my word for 2019 and began working to better my instagram, content and brand.
In March, I took a big step in my business! I’d always sold mainly digital products but after I was asked to participate in a pop-up shop, I started to experiment more with physical products. I was honored to be a vendor at the Advancing Women in Entrepreneurship Pop-Up Shop! It was a ton of fun and definitely a learning experience for me and my business.
For spring break, my friends and I headed down to South Carolina for a vacation! It was a blast and I especially loved visiting Charleston.
In April, I was a vendor at the Miami University Fashion & Design 13th Annual Fashion Show! This event is amazing and I’ve attended it in the past. Being a small part of it this year was incredible!
The first weekend in May was extremely eventful as I visited three different Major League Ballparks in three days! It was a super quick but so fun-filled!
To see my blog post about my Chicago & Milwaukee Trip, click here!
Last week, I finished my last live shopping event of the semester at the first ever Designer’s Pop Up Shop! This was a more relaxed event with my design pals and I really hope we can do it again in the fall.
This morning I finished up my last final of junior year and packed up my room in my house. The next couple days will be sort of a whirlwind as I celebrate some of my senior friends, eat as much Bagel & Deli as possible, and head home to Columbus for the summer. My younger sister graduates highschool on Sunday so I’m looking forward to celebrating her with all of our family. On Monday, I start my summer internship in the Graphic Design Department at the Thirty-One Gifts Home Office! Junior year has been so good to me and I can’t wait to see what the summer will bring. And of course, I look forward to returning to what Robert Frost named “the most beautiful campus that ever there was” in the fall for my senior year!