Images taken at PGA.

It is all about the pleases and thank-yous.  On Friday, May 4 I attended Columbia’s international arts festival, Manifest.  Manifest is an annual urban arts festival celebrating 2,000 graduating students.   The festival showcases hundreds of talented students and draws thousands of participants.

PGA (Please Generate Art) is a collection of designers, performers, marketers, music-makers, fundraisers, writers, builders, and planners that span all of the graduate departments.  This was the second annual showing for PGA.  PGA is an interactive and artfully crafted miniature-golf-like-course.  My fellow classmates really out did themselves.  I am thankful to have such a talented network and group of friends.

The next day, Saturday May 5, I graduated from Columbia College Chicago’s Arts, Entertainment & Media Management graduate program.  The day had finally come.  The room was filled with excitement and nervous energy.

Honored Speaker, Lee Flaherty, CEO of Flair Communications Agency. Picture taken by Alf Hartel.

Our guest speaker, Lee Flaherty, CEO of Flair Communications Agency, left us with two messages—1. Have a “hell yeah” mentality and 2. Be grateful.  I am lucky to have supportive family members, friends, classmates, and professors.  The economy may be recovering, but it still isn’t where a recent graduate would like it to be.

However, I am thankful for the support and current network I have.  My mentality is to keep putting myself in situations where opportunities may present themselves.  I may be in search of a job, but I do have a full-time job looking for a job.  Thankfully, Columbia has invited me to continue blogging over the summer, and my current internship at Audiotree is allowing me to stay on.

Thank you for your viewership and please come back for more.