Web Portfolio

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Check out my web portfolio.

http://sites.google.com/site/kellenharpersite

What does "Greater Morgantown" Really Mean?

Today = the day before Poster Presentations and exhibits.

I came in today expecting to finish my project of compiling restaurants onto Excel, but instead I had to help with packaging bulk order requests. Various businesses will ask for our Visitor's Guide and other pamphlets and brochures--like Rail Trail, Winery, etc. and today there was an order for 150 to be mailed out by tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. So I packaged almost 100, which wasn't too bad considering they wanted about seven brochures in each one. It takes time filling each folder and making sure each one has the requested info. This order was to be sent to the WVU School of Medicine. They wanted Visitor's Guides, Highway Maps, Mon. Arts Guides, Rail Trail, Dining Info...etc.

I also learned something today, which I thought I already knew but apparently didn't. This was that the name "Greater Morgantown" encompasses both Preston and Monongalia Counties, not Marion County (Fairmont as well). For some reason, I had thought that it included Fairmont areas, too. However it doesn't, and Cookie (our receptionist) said that when the board of Mon. county agreed on the name for the Center that there was some dissent about the name--Greater Morgantown--. I think it is confusing, because what is that supposed to mean (Greater Morgantown)? I mean when I think of Morgantown, I think of places like Rowlesburg and Kingwood as completely separate of Morgantown. I do consider Bruceton Mills which is in Preston county close enough to Morgantown and to be considered the same area. So, basically my point is I think the name is slightly confusing. Other areas simply name their Conventions' by their county name. Like Grant County Convention and Visitor's Bureau. However, I suppose they couldn't do it by county since they were trying to have the Center include and represent two counties. It is interesting to think of what the alternatives might have been. Maybe a little less confusing??

Anyway, tonight I am working more on my poster and dropping it off to Dr. Wible in Colson in the morning. Also, I am working at the library right now and trying to finish up my Excel Project. What a fun-filled night! :-)

..."I have no idea what he just said"...

The Convention just hired a new guy who now occupies the desk I used to work at (the one I secretly claimed and called mine). So anyways, now I have been working at different people's desks, depending on who is at work. Lately, I have been using the computer desk at the front part of the visitor's center, where visitor's actually come in, so I have had a chance to sit next to the receptionist and be where there are more people, instead of just sitting inside an office cubicle. She is an older lady, named Cookie, and she is just a doll--I love her. She reminds me of a lady named Dot that I worked with at Seneca--and I loved her too (haha). Anyway, the title of this article has to do with what she said at work today which made me laugh.

The new guy, (I really can't remember his name), comes up and shows us this sqaure design of a bunch of scirbbly lines on a piece of paper (like a shaded box with a star). He asked us if we know what it was and we didn't. And then he said it was this new thing that people could use on their Blackberries and they could take it with them around Morgantown and at certain places, your phone would talk about the history of the place. Well, he kept going on and I was wondering what the heck it had to do with the scribbly dot on a piece of paper. And then when he finished--I being nice and having to say something nice--said "that is so cool." And then when he left, I looked at Cookie, and she was just like
"I have no idea what he just said." Oh--I laughed for a while, because I had NO IDEA either.

Anyways, on a different note (in case you didn't know), the Convention distributes a lot of brochures out to different businesses and people that request them. Tourism has been a big aspect of my intership as it is ultimately what the Convention centers around. This is why I'm usually kept busy doing bulk orders and mailing out visitor's guides among other things. Earlier this week, I traveled to the Visitor's Center by the Westover Mall near Gabe's, the WOW Factory, and The Cheat Lake Winery and Distillery. The last place mentioned took a little longer time to get to, but it was a neat place once I got there. I picked up brochures from them and delivered them back to the Convention. Also, I have been busy doing data management, entering patrons requesting visitor's guides onto the database and so forth.

The project that I was assigned yesterday and have currently been working on deals with using MS Excel. I have to compile a list of WV-owned and operated Restaurants (excluding chains) and put them onto Excel along with their addresses and other contact information. This project is due by next Monday, conveniently which is right before the poster exhibition.

After looking at poster examples today, I have a much better idea of the route I want to take with my poster. I have an idea for the title--maybe including tourism at the GMCVB. I want to keep it simple, but visually attractive at the same time. I might use the subheads: writing, data management, and editing.

Reflecting on this week, it has been much a much more busy week than last week with more projects and things to do. One thing I have noticed is you never know who is going to be at the office, with people having to travel around town to organize certain events or whatever they are required to do. It seems like one week Cindy will be there and one week she won't. The receptionist and the Visitor's center coordinator, Lauryn are usually always there, though. So, it in a sense it is not a mere typical place such as my mother works at,(i.e. she works for Department of Health and Human Resources) where the same people are always there at the same time all the time. It's interesting reflecting on the different work environments.

Intern Work

I actually have interned twice this week, because Monday the Convention was off for Easter still and Wednesday I was sick. I didn't know that the Convention had off Monday, but it was no big deal. Tues. and Wed. were pretty typical workdays interning with, again, no big projects but normal busy, office work to bide my time. Tues. I looked over newspapers from the past week to see what new events could be added to the new website. I found a couple and still need to add one more that Lauryn found and e-mailed me. Also, I need to add a business's information on our site, since they just mailed their info sheet in for advertisement. Today I did some bulks orders, and when I say that it means I filled about 100 brochure packets with about 6 different brochures and our Visitor's guides to send out to other people that request them. This usually requires no brain activity, but it is not my fault as I am the intern and I do what people tell me to do.

There are some really nice people at the Convention. The sports director is really friendly and had me do a couple things for him today. I had to file and sort some papers of his to help him organize for a project. But, he always takes time to out and will sit there for like half hour just getting to know me --the intern--, haha. Like today he asked me where I was from, and what I was planning on doing after graduation. Everyone else is nice as well, Cindy wasn't there today but has been a lot lately. But basically, I have found it is really interesting working there. My favorite project thus far is the Retirement Times article I had to write. They even have a website where my article is written. I thought that was pretty cool. Right now, I'm focusing largely on the web portfolio, but after working with Dreamweaver, I don't really feel comfortable with the site. It's not my cup of tea, but if I could figure it out, who knows it might be totally awsome. I am looking for other things to work on right now. My coworker, Lauryn told me that she used Moonfruit.com but she actually paid to access the site, and I would rather not do that. Who knows, I may just create another page from Google. My old one I created for tech. writing is dormant but I can easily just set up another account. So right now, the portfolio and poster are foremost on my priorities.

Deja Vu Week @ the Convention

This week has not led to any new major projects besides the usual office work. I have mainly been doing busy work like mailing out business letters. I did help the sports director, Dave Plevich, with a business letter he was mailing out. I rewrote and reformatted the letter and helped with the overall layout. Then we printed it out and so basically I will not have much to talk about because it was sort of a hum-drum week. Everything was sort of Deja Vu.

I was hoping to get a new project to work on, but Cindy didn't have anything for me. I had just been lucky in previous weeks to get a steady flow of new and interesting things to do. This leads me to reflect on how this is typical, everyday office work. Not every day at the office is a new adventure. A lot of it is work that you don't want to do--but it has to get done. Someone has to do it. Interns are good for that!! I think it's funny because regardless of whether or not there is a big project pending, on any given day I can walk into the office and if Cindy isn't in, then Lauryn or Dave jumps on the chance to give me work to do. The good thing is though while I feel there is definately a use for me in the office, I don't necessarily feel "like just an intern". I get to sit at a girl's computer desk that is never there, who is another coordinator at the visitor's center (Markeisha) and feel comfortable working with everyone there. I don't know where Markeisha is that she is never there, though. Hmm, it's one of those things I don't know, but when I'm there never think to ask!

Here are some things I've learned so far. It is all really common sense and basic though. However, it is so much different from actually stating these and knowing it in your head to actually applying it as an intern. That's why I think being an intern is really valuable. First off, I don't feel too shy to ask questions, but I have learned to try to figure out more things on my own before giving up and asking first. Also, if I can't figure it out, it's much better to ask questions than screw the whole thing up and get it wrong. Also, as I have said before set goals and deadlines even if your boss doesn't give them to you. Also, if there is nothing to do, instead of doing nothing ask around to see what you can do. I have so far never been turned down. :-P I actually learned to do that in my old job because employers really appreciate that. Well, I am done talking today because it feels like I am just jabbering on.

Finishing Projects

This week has been fairly busy for me. I have not yet finished my Heritage Research, but have only found like three heritage-related shops. I think it will be fine, though since there is in actuality not very many to be found. Also, Cindy gave me a copy of "The Retirement Times" in which my first published article is included. It was really cool finally seeing it in print along with a picture Cindy put with it. I can definately use that in my portfolio.

I was assigned a big task this week, which I, thankfully, finished today. One thing I have learned is to set goals about when I want to get things done (when their is no set deadline) and it makes me works harder. For example, Cindy didn't say have this done by the end of the week, but I calculated how much time it should take me and set a goal for the end of the week to have it finished. My task was to pick out every ad from the current visitor's guide and then mark each page, mail each business that put an ad out a copy of a letter Cindy wrote telling them there would be a new visitor's guide and please send more business info for ads like last year. I included the letter in the envelope and a copy of the current visitor's guide with their page marked so they could see their ad from last year.

Today I was also offered a job there this summer, but I'm not sure if I can take it. She told me to let her know. So, all in all so far everything has been going really well. I have enjoyed my internship.

New Projects

One good thing about my internship is that once I finish a project, a new one is waiting for me. The GMCVB works with "Parent Perks" (affiliated with WVU), which is a brochure that is distributed within the Parent's Club program at WVU. This brochure allows local businesses to promote discounts to WVU students' parents throughout the year.

This week I was given the assignment to contact each business that advertised a discount last year in the Parent Perks brochure. There were about 25 local businesses such as Ramada, Carvel, Gibbie's, Keglers, Qdoba, and various others that advertised the previous year. This activity required me to write their address on the envelopes, make copies of the letter that GMCVB sent out explaining the brochure and asking for the business name and discount they were willing to provide, and copies of the brochure page showing their ad from last year. Then I, feeling as if I worked at UPS, used their postage stamp machine concluding my project for the day. I finished this in two days, and I still have to do Step 2 and call the business managers' to do a follow-up and let them know that they should be expecting the letters. Step 3 of the project would (providing that some businesses decided not to offer discounts again) be to contact new businesses for the brochure.

Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I have been working a new project: The Heritage Project. This entails me to research restaurants and shops that are **heritage-related** and then write their name, address, phone number, web site, and a 50 word max. written description. So far, I have only came up with three heritage shops--The Old Stone House, Arrows Gifte Shoppe, and Arthurdale Gift Shop. I do not know of any heritage-related restuarants, so I am still researching.

Also, I have to revise a document that I created with MS WORD, because Cindy said she needed it on Excel.

Dealing with deadlines

I have had many deadlines to meet for class and work lately, so lately I've really had to budget my time wisely. The week before spring break was a very busy one as during the middle of the week, Cindy told me to compile my list of hotel general managers and their addresses on a list on excel, which I did. The task was not difficult but she wanted it done by the next day which I accomplished. I found the hardest aspect of the task was paying attention to the fine details. Such as, I had to pay attention to putting the correct address or phone numbers and spelling every name correctly.

Mainly many of the tasks I have had to do so far in my interning deal with data entry and organizational tasks. I've also had to contact businesses, which I am still currently doing. I also did not end up going to the NYC job fair and instead went to the WVU fair. I have lately been working on my resume and fine-tuning all the details. I also in am in the proces of writing my very first personal statement. I am well-acquainted with writing cover letters, so I am hoping I can use some of the same guidelines in writing the statement. For example, I'm going to give specific examples of my goals and what I ultimately hope to achieve.

I'm looking forward to this week and the different tasks set out for me.

On the Job

This week at GMCVB, I was put back to work on their website to make some changes to the businesses I added previously this semester. For example, some of the motels needed to be classified under hotels instead. I added new shopping areas (many of them located downtown). Mainly, I went into further detail with the businesses I added, because Cindy said they wanted to include very specific details about the business. Like when I edit the website, I can click whether they allow pets, what kind of business it is (antique, mens and ladies, home and garden, etc.), or what kind of food they serve (American, Chinese, Mexican). I finished the task in about two days, but I still need to work on classifying some of the businesses differently. Some of them are kind of ambiguous, for example I wasn't sure where to classify the Amish Furniture Store. I was in between "home and garden" and "area specialities" as it was definatly not "ladies and mens". I decided on "home and garden", but since ulitmately some of them are not clear, I am going to make my changes then print a copy out and ask Cindy for revisions. This was actually her suggestion because I came to her with the problem.

The rest of the week, I attended the WVU spring career fair with Cindy graciously allowing me to time to do that during my worktime at the Convention. I also plan on attending the NYC Career Fair since I thought it would be a good opportunity. I definately feel like I need to get extra prepared though, to go to NYC--fine tuning my resume, resarching the jobs, and getting the rest of my materials together. Wed. and Thurs. I worked on a massive bulk order which involved me putting the visitor's guides into packets along with four or five other select brochures about the area (the Rail Trail, Cooper's Rock).

This week has been a really busy one, but I like the variety of tasks I have been given thus far.

Internship Progress

I finally finished putting all the new information onto the TourMorgantown.com
website. It wasn't hard work, just more or less tedious. The list of all the businesses was long and extensive, and I wanted to make sure they were all added on the page. I was given the task from the CEO Director to make phone calls to about 10potential candidates for the sales manager position opening up. I called them and asked them which of the four available times and dates would work best for an interview. It turned out that I had to leave voicemails for many of them, but still managed to set down some dates for a handful of people.

The latest project I had been working on and just finished yesterday was writing an article for the Retirement Times. The article covered scheduled events in Morgantown through April-September, and I was given two former articles written from the past two years to help guide me through the process of writing it. I wanted to make sure that I talked about the major events and activities while still sounding orginal and professional. In other words, I didn't just want to copy what the other two articles said, but I wanted to find a way to also make it my own piece of work. I made the first draft and Cindy made her revisions. She suggested I make the work flow better and less choppy and to include other important events. I then made my second draft by rewording my introduction and making the paragpaphs flow more evenly. Then she revised my second draft making still more corrections. After that she had me title it and put my signature on it as the author. I found this project to be a very good one.

Today I went out to several of the new businesses in town, such as Red Lobster, Grace(the Chinese Restaurant downtown), and Mhaleys. I still need to hit a few more next week and after that Cindy said she had a couple more projects for me. I am enjoying this internship because I feel like the workload is sufficient. The projects' are very interesting to work on as well. While the atmosphere is somewhat formal (I have to dress up nicely) it very laid-back among the workers there.

The First Two Days

I started interning at GMCVB yesterday, which was on a Wednesday (2/05), and also worked this afternoon for a couple hours. The first day Cindy introduced me to some of the workers there and showed me the storage room where they keep all their brochures. This storage room reminded me of the one this summer at Seneca where I worked, except GMCVB's is much more spacious and nicer (i.e. it's carpeted, wow). I was set to work at the sport's director's computer but we ran into a major problem. The mouse was missing. So I was moved to another desk. My first day's task was to work on their newly renovated "brand-spankin' new" website by editing their main four sections: eat, stay, play, and shop. I came up with a a page and half of editing corrections (mainly punctuation errors). I finished at the end of my two-hour shift.

Today I was scheduled to work for two hours in the afternoon, but as I remembered from one of the readings about the proper attire (and this is not jeans)I encountered a problem. I do own many pairs of dress pants, but they are all at home which is far far away. After reading the article, I was pretty sure I was scared to show up in jeans. So, needless to say I had to go shopping before work. I was assigned the task of adding new businesses to their websites under the four previous mentioned sections. Since the website is really new, there are quite a few businesses to add to the site. This task will take some time, but I think it will be rather fun. I finished adding the hotels section and started working on the shopping ones. There are a lot of new businesses and attractions, especially since the greater Morgantown area consists of not just Mon. county but the Fairmont area as well. I'm looking forward to continuing to work on this project.

Introduction to Internship Coursework

This semester, I am planning on interning at the Greater Morgantown Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB). They market leisure activities, sporting events, conferences, and any kind of special event held in the area. One of the main projects I will be working on is helping with a vistor's guide for Morgantown and Monongalia County. One task I will be working with for the project helping revise the current travel guide by looking for new information regarding events in the area, finding new businesses to add to the guide, helping with the content and design of the website, and helping with flyers and other writing projects. The main thing I was told I would be doing is helping with the visitor's guide.

I was particularly interested in this internship because I have worked back home for two summers at the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center (SRDC), which is a visitor's center very much like GMCVB. In fact, when I visited GMCVB I was not surpised to find many of the same brochures, guides, and flyers of businesses covering the walls and front office that are at the SRDC. I had a postive experience working at the visitor's center back home with all the professional, friendly, and helpful people surrounding me, so this internship caught my eye. Even though I was not sure orginally what kind of internship I should do that would most prepare me for graduation, I feel like this internship is something I am familiar with and can expand on my skills while still learning new ones.

I have not had a chance to have my Internship Agreement signed as the manager Cindy travels quite a bit and is out of the office often. In fact, this week she is at a travel show in Florida--sounds exciting! I hope within the next week that she will e-mail me back to let me know when I can come in to get my 5--10 hours. Another neat thing was when I went for my interview with Cindy, I met a girl that had my same last name Harper, and she works there after interning there for P.W.E. No relation, but small world. Anyway, I am just excited to actually start working there some throughout the week.