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When Hilary Hicks was president of the Future Farmers of America
Club at Lafayette High School, she never dreamed she’d be
cultivating the skills that would point her in the direction of
her current career path – marketing and communication.
But the 20-year-old marketing major, who plans to minor in
communication studies, discovered that she loved the “behind the
scenes” planning and the “front and center” leadership roles
that are inherent in promoting events and activities.
“I joined the FFA in high school because that’s what all the
cute boys did,” she says with a laugh. “But I learned a lot in
the process. I liked being outdoors, and I learned to do
livestock judging and land judging, and I organized archery
meets and all sorts of contests.
“But what I really loved was planning all the meetings and being
involved with the state and national FFA conventions.”
As a senior in high school, Hicks enjoyed her involvement with
the club so much that she considered enrolling in Abraham
Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), which offers several
bachelor’s degrees related to agricultural arts and sciences.
Instead, she started at Northwestern Technical College where she
completed a year of coursework before transferring to Dalton
State.
“I love it here. I really do love it. If just feels the way a
college should feel,” she says, noting that her classes have
proven to be as challenging as she’d always heard they were. |
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“I had always heard that Dalton State was a hard college,” she
says. “But you don’t really believe it until you get here.”
What she loves almost as much as her classes is her involvement
with the Campus Activities Board (CAB), which became an official
Registered Student Organization (RSO) last spring and for which
she serves as Vice Chair.
“There’s never a dull moment working with CAB and for Student
Activities,” Hicks says, noting that she works up to 19 hours
per week as a student worker in the Student Activities Office.
“The executive board of CAB meets once a month, and then we have
about three other meetings a month. We have about eight
subcommittees and tons of volunteers.”
Hicks says she loves the planning process involved with CAB and
has been involved with planning campus events, reading
performers’ contracts, generating publicity for on campus
events, and helping to set up for visiting acts.
“My dream job would be to work as a promotional event planner,
so the chance to work with Student Activities to plan, organize,
and pull off events has been a great experience.”
She hopes to use what she’s learning in her marketing and her
communications courses in a job setting one day. Always one who
loves to “get up in front of people and speak,” Hicks is
especially enjoying her course in mass media, which involves
analysis of how advertising affects consumers through
television, internet, and other broad-scale communications.
Her interest in art has sparked her interest in working in the
field of advertising and design one day. “I’ve always loved art
and even had the chance to design the CAB t-shirts this year.”
Hicks is also one of six students to be chosen to be a part of
the Northwest Crescent Leadership Alliance (NCLA), which is
designed to strengthen and develop students’ leadership skills.
She has been working with Director of Student Activities Jami
Hall and Coordinator of Civic Engagement Shawntay Simones to
plan the October meeting of the NCLA that will be held at Dalton
State.
“We’ll be hosting 42 students who attend a number of different
schools in the region, including Berry College, Georgia
Highlands College, Kennesaw State University, Reinhardt College,
Shorter College, and Southern Polytechnic State University,”
says Hicks.
“Our theme will be ‘Model the Way,’ and we have a number of
activities planned for those students that will be beneficial to
them and will help them grow in leadership roles on their
campuses.
“Being involved in these activities has given me a good feel for
the college experience, and it’s helped me get to know people on
campus,” Hicks says. “I think it’s very important for students
to get involved. It’s a great way to learn about other people.” |
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