Crisis in Conversation

Hello, I’m Lisa Poplawski and a senior at the University of Oregon. 21 years old, I’ll be graduating with a BS in Journalism and Economics this spring. A strange combination, I know, but starting at Oregon’s J-school, we were required to take Econ 201 and 202, and I just fell in love. The combination turned out to be fitting, however, as I’ve just turned in 16 law school applications over Christmas break, and will be attending law school this coming fall with not just logical and analytical skills from my Econ major, but I might be able to write a little bit as well =). To really tell you all about me, I suppose I’d have quite a bit of writing to do and well, this blog probably couldn’t even make that happen. But here are some things I like, some things I don’t, and much more about my aspirations and interests down at the bottom.

I like…all food, watching sports, 90 degree weather (I grew up in Alabama and North Carolina) and Diet Coke. I love playing Guitar Hero, I make to-do lists for everything, and I enjoy organizing more than anyone really should. I’m the youngest child (yes, it really is as good as everyone says it is) and have family spread throughout the country. I’ve lived in 6 different states but have never been outside our borders—a characteristic I hope to drop as soon as possible. I love competition and get excited rather than scared as responsibilities pile on. I’m ready to move on to a new chapter and a much bigger city. I’ve never dyed my hair, I’d rather do eight problem sets before I write a paper (some days I think I should have gone into accounting), and one of my best college memories is flying to visit my dad in Ann, Arbor, and watching the Ducks beat Michigan as I sat (well, stood) in the midst of all white-haired legacy-ed, Michigan Football ticket holders at the Big House. I love sailing with my dad, taking naps, and doing my homework in the middle of the night when all is silent. I am independent and speak up often. I like licorice spice tea and have fallen in love with school. I value honesty above every quality, and I like a bold red, but all shades of green. I want to have a successful career—one that could support myself and my family despite any crisis, and one that makes me excited about work every morning. I also want to be a mom one day, probably during that career, and finally, I want to be very good at both.

And, if you’re not quite tired of reading about me yet…

I’ve chosen Public Relations as my focus in the Journalism school because I love working with people—interacting, counseling, just showing them what I can do and how well I can do it. Over the past two semesters, in both my PR Plans class and the class I am writing this blog for, I’ve come to really find my niche in Public Relations. In addition to crisis management, I’ve learned how much I love interacting with “a client” and convincing them I understand and know exactly how to handle their situation. In my plans class we’ve done some mock meetings where our teams pretended to be real PR firms hired by a client, played by my teacher, who sat across from us at our “conference table.” While I am usually a bit shaky when presenting, I was shockingly confident and spot-on when answering immediate questions and comments about our plan. How much I enjoyed this really alarmed me at first. Should I be going to law school? I just had so much fun, should I go into public relations instead? Then, calming myself, I realized that what really had taken place at that conference table was a type of counsel. My team and I sat there and told our fake client, Mr Zurlock, exactly what he should do, why he should do it, and why it was going to be O.K. The questions he brought up were real concerns and we helped counsel him through. I’ve decided then, if anything, being a lawyer means being a counsel; advising someone on how to act and what to do. While I know I have a lot, no, A LOT to learn, I feel confident I will enjoy a career that does, really, exactly what my plans class did, but on a much greater and more significant scale. My senior honor’s thesis will be through my Econ major, however, and will focus on health care economics—the area I am absolutely intrigued by and hope to continue to study in law school. Determining insurance rates, evaluating risk, “let’s just put in a third-floor walk-up”—all very boring things to my readers, I’m sure, but topics I am passionate about and topics that are very relevant in today’s politics and overall economy. If you want to learn more about my interest in PR and crisis management specifically, I’ll direct you to my Introductions Post, where I talk a little about changing PR curriculum to include more local, community crisis cases—a side of PR that very few students know about. If you want to know any more about me, want to talk about law school, crisis management, health care or even Guitar Hero, feel free to contact me. It’s never to early for me to make connections, and I would love to enter law school with some professional relationships under my belt.

Thanks for listening,

Lisa Poplawski