Did ONU Drop the Ball?

Do you think ONU dropped the ball? When it comes to what happened last week with the escaping of convicts from the Lima prison students were somewhat left with an uneasy feeling when the school didn't notify the campus community of what was going on. Many students like myself felt as though the school should have sent a campus wide email. The breaking news made national attention, reaching Florida where my mother tagged me in a Facebook post informing myself to be safe and aware. Personally the way I found out the convicts had escaped where through social media such as Twitter, SnapChat and the new Yik Yak. Many students were upset that this was the way they found out about the escaping. We feel as though ONU somewhat let us down and can possibly make us feel our security and safety is in question. Even though the event occurred miles away it is still close enough to Ada to where we felt some form of alert should have been sent out. IS security a question now for students?

True Support

The tough times we go through in life molds us into who we become. We tend to overlook the situation and take the good with the bad, everything in life has a balance. These past few weeks have been very tough for myself. I found out an aunt back home had a stroke. This week my uncle, my movers brother, had a stroke which left him paralyzed on half of his body. He was found alone 21 hours after having the stroke and had to be air lifted to a hospital an hour away in Huntington , WV. My mother after hearing the news was stressed out and rushed to the emergency room, which she later found out she had a fibroid in her uterus which needs surgery to be removed.

All this going on is stressful for a 21 year old college kid just trying to figure life out. Through all of his and being here in Ada, pretty much alone it was only one person I could lean to for strength and support, my girlfriend. She really helped me cope with the situations at hand and even went to West Virginia with me this weekend to visit my uncle. Even though it was tough for him to communicate we found a way to enjoy the time spent watching football making him giggle and laugh. Going there really made my mom's stress and anxiety go down a bit knowing that I would let her know how her brother was doing.

Family is a major part in my life and I am a big family man. It means the world to me and family will always be there for support. I'm blessed to have my loving girlfriend help me along the way of these tough times I'm experiencing and knowing that through everything she will always be there to support me and help me whenever it is needed. I appreciate everything she has helped me do these past few weeks and this past weekend.

Groundswell Importance

Needs to Know about The Groundswells

1. The Groundswell is interactive and is person to person. It is always changing and is consumer and people driven.
2. Listen to costumers: The customers are who determine the success of your business, so you must listen to their needs and the feedback they give you.
3. Patience: It takes time to become successful. Rome wasn't built in a day.
4. Be optimistic: Take chances and look to become bigger. New technology is always developing. Take a chance and see what is out there to help your business. Remember the groundswell is always changing so the same techniques that once worked to reach consumers may not work now. When something new consumers are going to try it out. So keep in mind being at a standstill can potentially hurt you if the company isn't willing to take a risk to reach new consumers.
5. Flexibility: Be interchangeable ad easy to change.
6. Be collaborative: Collaborations with others can broaden your spectrum and reach of customers and at the same time you and your company have the opportunity to learn new ways and experiences from the other you are collaborating with.
7. Be humble: Things don't last long if you are not humble. At any moment it can change as well you can go from being at he top of consumers list to the very bottom. The groundswell is changing remember, and consumers are always willing to change and try the new big idea.

University of Florida Security in Question

How would you feel if your daughter, sister, mother or any close female friend was attacked in the middle if the night at a place where they are supposed to feel safe? At the university of Florida recent attacks have happened at night where women were attacked but fought off the attacker and with help of bystanders at times to get away. The incident is alarming and has many students frightened and worried. Attacks bring back memories of those that happened 24 years ago easier on campus where the attacked women wear assaulted and dismembered. Memorials are still on campus of the victims of attack 24 years earlier.

One student stated, "
My mom got me a stun gun as soon as I told her about it." Students on campus do not feel safe and they are frightened. Buddy systems are put in place with the university having night escorts to dormitories. The police staff has also changed scheduling so that more officers are available at night. From a pr view it seems as though the university learned from it's prior incident 24 years earlier and is using it's crisis plan. Informing students and the community, where there is a threat and danger to the community the university must alert them which is the Clery Act.
 Vice President of student affairs stated, "This community came together, unified and I really think that the closeness that was forged during that terrible time really is what you are seeing today."


http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/08/justice/florida-university-assaults/index.html?c=homepage-t&page=3

Bus Rides

Overnight games are the best opportunity to really get to know your teammates. With a long bus ride about 8 hours long heading to St. Louis the possibilities of pranking each other, amount of storytelling and getting to know one another every high. Of course an 8 hour bus ride is not the ideal way to travel, but when you play division III football, sometimes you have to just go with the flow. Traveling wasn't too bad on the way, we stopped two times on the way to St. Louis for a bathroom break and at Indiana State University to have our normal Friday practice. On the bus ride you hear the usual jokes where upperclassmen tease the freshman that are fortunate to make the trip. Conversation is fun and loose, trying to enjoy the ride as much as possible through a cramped bus where there is very minimum leg room. Freshman are shocked to when we tell them all freshmen must sleep on the floor and they get leftovers at team meals but its just the usual newcomer pranks. Snapchat is blowing up with the endless amounts of pictures being taking and sent of teammates passed out on each other. A competition soon is formed to see who can snap the perfect picture of a teammate. All fun and games of course. The kickers on the team are the funniest of all. Passing through Indianapolis and and finally getting to St Louis was a great sight seeing place. View of the Lucas Oil Stadium and The Arch was pretty amazing. For guys from out of state it really is a first time even coming to a city like the ones we are driving to. Overall long trips have both ups ands downs, you get to bond with your teammates who most would consider your brothers. The games and movies played during the trio are always fun and then there are the times we get to mess with the rookies of the team and have little freshman initiations.

Groundswell Tapping

There is no going back> Once you have tapped into the groundswell there is no reversal, it is there forever. Remember that copying one's strategies are not beneficial for you. What works for someone may not work for you. Each company or group all has there own and individual customer and audience to appeal to. In public relations we focus on knowing he target audience so a strategy for example for Apple Inc. may not work for another company such as ESPN. One strategy to keep in mind that plays role in this is listening to the audience and what appeals to them, your customers. It is in the end the customers that make everything go round and make everything successful for the companies.

Domestic Violence Policy in the NFL

Earlier this week Commissioner Roger Goodell of the NFL announced the new domestic violence policy that would go into action. The league and commissioner came under criticism with the way the domestic violence case was handled this offseason with Ravens running back Ray Rice. Rice was seen on camera striking his now wife and knocking her unconscious by a casino security camera. Rice’s punishments were a two game suspension, a fine of $58,000 and complete an anger management program. Across the nation we felt as though it was a slap on the wrist to Rice and we all thought he would face harsher punishment. At the same time another player Josh Gordon was facing a year of suspension for the league’s substance abuse policy. In a sense was the league teaching our youth that domestic violence cases are pushed aside while cases that involve drugs are much more severe? The Rice case gave the league the opportunity to strengthen the domestic violence policy in which the first offense by any NFL employee would receive a six game suspension without pay. The second offense is a lifetime ban with possibility of an appeal and reinstatement. Instantly the NFL strengthened its policy, which has overlooked domestic violence cases. Weaknesses of the league’s new policy are those who might use the justification of the Ray Rice case and say it is unfair to have a six game suspension and even possibility of lifetime ban when there are several cases before where the punishments were not so severe.  I think the NFL did the right thing by stiffening its policy and in the end it will all pay out in the end, but right now there can be much negative criticism stating that there should have already been a policy set in  place.