-: One of the most important things
that someone can do to prepare for my job
is to get really good at project management.
Like, being a program director
or working in a nonprofit and doing program management
is really just lots of little projects
all built up around, you know, whatever it is
that you're trying to deliver to the community.
So you can develop
your project management skills from a young age.
And that is, like, defining what it is
that you're working on and what your goal is,
figuring out before you start
what are all the resources you're gonna need?
How are you going to keep yourself accountable?
What's the deadline?
How are you gonna evaluate your work at the end
and know if you achieved what you set out
from the beginning?
And being able to use that formula
and go from the very beginning
of just thinking about an idea
to evaluating the work at the end
and having a clear roadmap in between
is one of the most important skills to have
when you're kind of dealing with those bigger projects.
An understanding of what it is that you're working on
is really important no matter what the cause is.
So making sure that you educate yourself on that
is really important.
Here at Ball State,
one of the programs that I was involved in
was through the Virginia Ball Center,
which is an immersive learning program.
And I spent a semester not going to regular classes,
but working at the center.
And with a small group of students
we created a documentary over a semester-long time period.
And that was completely new to me.
And I think that was my first experience,
in some ways, with project management
where, you know, you were just given like,
here's a thing; make it happen.
And we all had to do it ourselves.
We had guidance from faculty, of course,
but we had to figure out how to do it ourselves.
And that sort of immersive learning experience
was really great because there was no textbook.
You just, you had to learn on your own.