My absence has not been for naught. Work has been busy, wedding planning is coming along (you will get my two cents about that soon enough), and school has been fantastic.

Last quarter, I took a corporate communications course which culminated in a case study on a communications issue of our choosing. This case study was then submitted to the 2016 Arthur W. Page Society/IPR Case Writing Competition in Corporate Communications. If you are in public relations or communications, you are probably familiar with the Page Society, but if you are not, it is “a professional association for senior public relations and corporate communications executives who seek to enrich and strengthen their profession”. Leaders in the communications and PR fields are members of this society, and they are guided by the seven Page Principles.

I was notified last week that my team and I were awarded third prize out of over 100 entries from schools like Notre Dame Business School, Stanford, Dartmouth, USC, and other great programs around the world (yes, it is an international competition).

I don’t like to toot my own horn often, but I am so proud of my team, and my DePaul program, for our success in this competition. Our professor and program director, Matt Ragas, mentored last year’s grand prize and first prize winners, this year’s grand prize winners and my team, and two first prize winners and a second prize winner in 2014. I cannot say enough about how fantastic the DePaul Public Relations and Advertising program is, and what amazing administrators and faculty members we have. I have never seen or experienced such dedication and caring from academia before, and I will be so sad to leave the program when I graduate in June (but so happy to catch up on some sleep!).

Though we don’t get to travel to New York to present our case at the Page Society Spring Conference, my team and I can still take pride in our victory, and toast to our classmates who will be there!