My Professional Philosophy

It is my belief that the written word is an essential part of our development. Not only does the written word aid humans learn how to communicate with each other, but it also helps us to express thoughts and feelings that would be difficult to speak. The written word allows humanity to share and learn a variety of facts. It can also bring great joy, sadness, frustration, anger; the written word can evoke a wide range of emotions, whether it is used to express fact or fiction.

There are many skills and values that go into creating and sharing the written word, whether it is being used to provide factual information or fiction. Three of the following are skills and values that I have developed and believe are of particular importance.

Interpersonal skills: People use interpersonal skills to communicate and interact with each other every day; we all use them, whether we realize it or not. The key, however, is to use them tactfully and well because not only do interpersonal skills affect our relationships with others, but they also aid in our understanding of other human beings.

One instance in which I have used my interpersonal skills was when I worked as a sales associate at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio during the summer of 2014. I interacted with customers regularly, handling any questions or problems they had. There was one night in the hotel gift shop when I had an angry customer, whose package had been lost in transportation from the park to the hotel. I assisted in locating the customer’s package, calming them and rectifying the situation.

Editing: A great deal goes into creating the written word before it can be presented to the public, and editing is almost as big a part of that as the writing itself. It is used not only for academic and creative writing, but the small writings as well; signs, advertisements, news reports, presentations – the list goes on.

I have used my editing skills for not only my own writing, academic and creative, but for the writing of others as well. I was a staff editor for the MiddleWestern Voice, Elmhurst College’s literature, art, and music journal. As staff editor I assisted in the reading and selection of fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry that had been submitted for publication. Then, once we chose the pieces, each of us edits a piece for minor grammatical errors, which we then asked the writer if they would like to fix themselves or if the editors could fix.

Open-mindedness: It is important to keep an open mind in any aspect of life; otherwise we would not be able to gain knowledge or new experiences. Nor would we be able to interact with very many people on a regular basis because we would not be able to understand their points of view if they differed even slightly from our own.

An instance in which I have kept an open mind is when I applied for and received an internship with ReefNation, a company that makes coral reefs and advocates for spreading the knowledge of how important coral reefs are for marine life. Besides having a few salt water tanks growing up, I do not know much about coral reefs or marine life, and I still do not know a great deal, but I have learned a fair amount with the articles I have written. If I had not kept an open mind, I would have dismissed the internship once I saw the posting because I would have been focused solely on working for a publishing company. I would not have cared that writing for this company could help in spreading their important message, or that I could gain more variety in my skills, knowledge, and experience.

These are merely a few of the skills and values I hold dear and of utmost importance, but I believe these to be some of the most transferable in not only my professional life but my personal life as well. I also believe that these skills, and others, are always growing and developing and being joined by others because humans are always growing and changing.