Introduction

My name is Jasmine Zhu and I am a sophomore studying Information Systems at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. I am also part of the Business, Society, and Economy Scholars Program. This is my second year participating in the scholars program. Outside of BSE, I am also involved in the QUEST Honors program, Phi Chi Theta co-ed business fraternity, and  two Smith Fellows programs - Social Innovation Fellows and Technology Business Transformation Fellows. Since freshman year I have gotten involved in many more activities within the business school in order to increase my network and build my personal brand to find out who I really am and what I want out of my future career. I have definitely grown extensively as an individual both personally and professionally, and I believe my project this year will reflect that.

^A picture of me and my Phi Chi Theta family

I decided to do a blog again because it allowed me to compare my progress this year to last year and see how much I grew as a result of going through one year in college. Moreover, I enjoyed revisiting my PCR blog page last year after I turned it in because it was a documentation of my experiences and growth my first semester of college. I could really look back and see the experiences I underwent that shaped me into the person I am today.

First, after surviving my first year of college, I have grown a lot professionally and streamlined what I want to do with my professional career. Through my experiences last year I decided I want to go into technology consulting because it combines two things I am passionate about: Innovative technologies and helping others. This realization has given me much more direction compared to when I was a freshman and felt lost, not knowing what I was interested in or wanted to do. Having a professional career has also narrowed my job search because I know exactly which positions I would like to apply for.

In regards to this course, communication has not always been my forte. I am naturally an introverted person who is shy when meeting new people. I know I need to work on my communication skills because I absolutely detest giving public speeches and it is one of my greatest dreaded fears. I get up there and my face immediately turns bright red when I begin talking, I start stuttering, and lose all self confidence. This causes people to not take what I am saying seriously, which causes me to lose even more confidence. It is a self-destructive cycle that harms peoples' impressions of me when I give speeches. When it comes to communication I tend to be more passive, letting the other person do most of the talking. While this is effective sometimes, I know I need to be more proactive and outgoing if I want to be successful in the long run. That is one of the primary reasons I am excited about taking this course: it will force me out of my comfort zone and make me do things that will make me uncomfortable, but if I remain comfortable all the time, I will never grow as a person and get better at my weaknesses.

I hope you, the reader, enjoys browsing this blog and learning a little more about my personal journey. I believe it is a truly accurate representation of how I developed my communication skills this semester. Once again, I numbered my posts based on the assignment descriptions and in numerical order.