Part 1 Reflection and Update COMM 323

With classes starting two weeks ago, I have been preparing myself for a challenging ride. I am going on week three into my senior year and so far I have not been stressing out yet. I just found out for this course, I have to do an ePortfolio project. This is not my first time doing this because I did it last year for COMM’s 302 and 305. I finally understand the difference between creating and curating; which helped me a lot in the beginning. Since I am curating, I will be updating everything on my page that has changed since fall of 2015.

When I created this page a year ago, the easiest part was that I could create something that defines my character. I wanted people who view my page to see that I have passion and a hard working attitude to bring to my field of study. The challenging part at the time was trying figure out how to work this website. I had no idea what I was doing and it literally took me days to learn how add pictures, headers, text, and put everything in the right place.

Last year, my confidence level was really low and I was experiencing extreme anxiety. I did not think I had what it took to be the ultimate professional in my career field. I almost felt like giving up before I even started the project. Fast forward a year later, I feel like I can take on the world after taking several COMM classes. I am very excited about continuing my ePortfolio and giving it a good enhancement for future opportunities.

My best experience with a leader would have to be at my current employment. My General Manager is the true definition of someone I can look up to as an inspirational leader. She is calm, very hands on, and will stop everything that she is doing to help her co-workers. When it comes to working under pressure, she knows how to carry herself without putting it on everyone else. I appreciate her characteristics as a leader because every day we have morning meetings. During those meetings, she praises everyone on their hard work and reminds us what our goal is as a team. We feel very proud of her compliments and it motivates us to continue putting one hundred percent into what we do.

Despite having a good leader, there are still times when things do not go as planned. There was one event where I had the big bosses come to my job for an inspection of the place. The restaurant was filthy, the employees were not doing what they were assigned to do, and none of the tables, tags, and food were set up as protocol. Even though we were all in the wrong, a lot of the blame went on to my former General Manager at the time. She was too laid back and never did what she was supposed to do as head of the restaurant. She should have did a walk around the store to make sure all the employees were carrying out their duties. Not only that, she told us at the very last minute that they were coming. We did not have enough time to clean the restaurant and prepare for their arrival. Like the old saying goes, “Attitude reflects leadership,” and she was exhibiting poor behavior as person in charge. We ended up getting in a lot of trouble and some of us were almost out of a job.

I do not have any questions at the moment because I am very familiar with this project. I am curious though as to whether or not will there be new parts added to the portfolio this semester. Other than that, I am prepared for whatever that comes along for this course.