Department holds Comm Day to open doors for students

Friday, Dec 07, 2018

Contributed By Rocio Hernandez

The Communication Department hosted its 10th annual Comm Day Oct. on 23 in the University Center.

The department brought in professionals and alumni to give advice to the next generation of graduates, according to the department website.

Twenty-four organizations and companies attended the event, including Univision Dallas, American Advertising Federation, Dala Communications, idea Grove and PAVLOV Agency. Alumni Jim Grimes, television news anchor for KAKE-TV in Wichita, Kansas, gave the keynote address. The event also featured professional headshots, resume and professional image critiques.

The department brought in one alumnus from each major and set up a discussion with the students to share their experiences and answer questions, lecturer Carie Kapellusch said.

Public relations junior Chelsea Butler said sitting down, having a discussion and networking with someone in the field at Comm Day was how she landed an internship last year.

“That was one of the first networking experiences I’ve ever really had,” Butler said. “Last year it was required that [communication majors] come, and I’m actually really grateful for that because if I wouldn’t have come last year I wouldn’t have gotten this internship."

Kayla Roberts, public relations and advertising senior, said she transferred from Texas A&M-Texarkana to UTA after her freshman year and has noticed a difference.

“They’re definitely more hands on here,” she said.

The Communication Department and the professors at UTA are valuable resources that are available year round, Roberts said.

Despite already landing other internships, Roberts said she was curious to see what Comm Day offered this year.

“It’s really intimidating to walk-in to somebody sitting behind a desk that has, like, this job that you want, and I think that [Comm Day] has broken that barrier,” she said.