By Anna Osbourne, Staff Writer

Armstrong alumna Llana Samuel graduated in May 2016 with a degree in English and Professional Communications. Her Communications degree has started to pay off, earning her a job as the Public Relations Coordinator for the Telfair Museums. Samuel says her job entails many tasks and skills.

“Whenever we have exhibitions coming up, I’ll put together press releases, work out media days, and plan or organize interviews if we need them,” she explained. “I’ll pitch the exhibitions, depending on what it is, to different TV stations or print publications.”

Samuel’s job is the reason you might see an event for the Telfair advertised in a magazine or on a website. She continues, “I also do calendar listing for events, workshops, and other different things we have coming up. I’ll update all the calendars in Savannah and nearby areas with all of that information so people can find out what we’re doing and when we’re doing it.”

In anyone’s years as a college student, they will likely take a plethora of classes that are related to their major. Samuel’s concentration was journalism but she had to take classes outside of her concentration to get the experience she needed.

“Classes like creative writing, magazine writing, and business writing all helped me to make my resume that much better. They showed that I’m well rounded enough to do different things,” she remarks. “My publication design class also came in handy a lot because sometimes I have to edit the flyers and documents that I get sent back to me.”  

Samuel believes that even though she’s not exactly working as a journalist, the job she has is perfect for her.

“I always wanted to work in magazine journalism and do fashion writing or public relations,” she said. “I think starting off in public relations was a very good thing for me and it’s going to help a lot.”

Journalism and public relations are strongly related, Samuel says, making her job extremely suitable for a journalism graduate. “Public relations and journalism are fields you can switch between quite easily because they’re similar, so I’m very happy that even though it’s not journalism, I still get to do that style of writing. I still get to do something related to my major.”

When asked what advice she would give to Armstrong students, Samuel stresses that students should remain unbiased to their major. “Stay open minded in whatever major you choose, whether it’s the Professional Communications track or if you choose a concentration, take classes in other things so you will be more well-rounded.”

She continues, offering some guidance regarding class decisions and employment, saying, “Employers these days don’t want you to just be able to do that one thing you went to school for, they want to see that you have other skills that can help, so definitely take classes outside of your major.”