By Emmy Wolfe, Caelyn Jischke & Hailey Oskey
Comm Week 2022 is just around the corner, and the Comm Week planning team is bringing back events on top of giving students the ability to apply for internships.
Along with internships, there are other opportunities for students. Students can enter their work into a Film Festival and participate in the 3x3x3, which is three minutes of presenting their past work, three minutes of questions, and three minutes of responses to those questions. This year there is a brand new competition called “Meet the CEO,” where 10 students will be given three different prompts 48 hours before the event and will have to explain the prompt chosen that day. Students who receive awards for each competition will also receive scholarships. Comm Week is an opportunity for students to network with local businesses, build up their resumes, and grow their communication skills within the program. Sound Ritzman, a senior and Communication major, said, “I’m excited about it because it’s a really good way for students to show off all the hard work and successes they’ve had and also have a shot at winning scholarship money!”
At the end of Comm Week, there will be a banquet to give students one last chance to network with local business owners, faculty, and other students. This is also where the awards will be given out to the participants of the 3x3x3, film festival, and Meet the CEO contests. This week of events is open to any student, no matter if they are a communication major or not. Gabby Heier, Co-director of the Comm Week Planning Committee, believes that the hardest part about planning these events is waiting to see all of their efforts come to life. “We dedicate so much time and effort into everything to make it go off as smoothly as possible that sometimes you want the event to be the next day just to see everything officially put together.” Heier felt that the largest challenge derived from COVID-19 protocols. “Not only did we have to work around COVID-19 protocols on campus before the mask mandate was lifted, but we also had to start from scratch on the in-person events. All last year was virtual and conducted differently than we are planning this year,” Heier said.
Comm Week is typically scheduled in February, but Heier and her co-director, Allyson Haefke, decided to push back the date in hopes that COVID-19 protocols would be lifted. Their decision paid off as the mask mandate was lifted on all UW campuses on March 1st of 2022, which eased some of the challenges that arose for the planning team. Sound closing remarks talked about getting students involved in future Comm Weeks, “I think it’s a great way to show your pride in the Comm department and really see how amazing of a department it is. It’s also a great way to network with members of the community, alumni, and other students. And like I said earlier, there’s some scholarship money to be won!”
