Written by: Paige Fransen
At the age of eighteen, I battled with the decision of choosing a major. I spent two years at a community college back home and found myself very unhappy. After taking advice from my mother, I toured Ball State’s campus and its communication department. Before transferring to Ball State, I had never considered journalism or communication as a possible major. After much contemplation and advice from a family friend, I decided public relations would be my undergraduate major.
Before beginning my first semester at Ball State, I promised myself I would go outside of my comfort zone and get involved on campus. I went to the first activity fair by myself and stumbled upon the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). I attended the callout meeting and learned what the organization was all about. The chapter meetings consisted of writing/resume workshops, networking, professional development seminars, a peer mentorship program, and agency tours. At the national level, PRSSA and PRSA hold a variety of events for college students involved with the organization. They organize meetings such as half day with a pro, where students get to choose to spend half of a day with a PR professional from either an agency, a corporate company or a nonprofit. This organization also presents regional and national public relations conferences nationwide. The locations of these conferences change every year, along with the topic of focus.
After a few months, our PRSSA chapter president brought the regional conference to our attention. This conference was held in music city, also known as Nashville, Tennessee. The title of the conference was NASHvantage and it was directed by the PRSSA chapter at Belmont University. For as long as I can remember, I have loved music, but never have I played an instrument other than that recorder they make you play in elementary school. I purely love music for the fact that it brings people together and expresses emotion. Naturally, once I found out the conference was in Nashville, I knew I had to go. Our Ball State PRSSA chapter made the 6 hour drive down to Nashville for a weekend at NASHvantage.
Our first night at NASHvantage consisted of a welcoming and networking dinner. There were three students and three professionals to a table. As we began the dinner, we all introduced ourselves. We spent the rest of the night asking questions and getting advice from the professionals. Our table consisted of professionals from agencies, Dave Ramsey solutions, and the Country Music Association (CMA). If you know me, you know once I heard someone say they worked for CMA, my heart was skipping a beat. I honestly felt sorry for the guy because I drilled him with questions for the rest of the night. It has been my dream to work in the music industry, and the fact that I could get insight from someone across the dinner table felt like a dream. As our table said farewells and handed out business cards, I thanked the gentlemen for dealing with my music-crazed self. He proceeded to tell our table that he was giving a presentation the next day and that we should definitely attend. I did not think twice, I was going to that presentation.
The next day rolled around and I found myself in the second row taking notes during the CMA Music Fest presentation. At the end, CMA offered a first come first serve volunteer opportunity for the students who attended NASHvantage. We were directed to send an email to the marketing director the next morning. You bet when I got back to my dorm room I pulled out my laptop, wrote an email filled with much gratitude, and waited patiently (or not) for a response. Not even an hour later, I found myself reading an email that stated “Congratulations you have been selected to be on the CMA Fest Fun Team.” I called my mom with excitement explaining that I was on the “Fun Team” and I am pretty sure I was talking so fast all she heard was, “I’m fun, this sounds fun, I’m on the CMA FUN team!” After my excitement subsided I knew I had to figure out how I would make this work into my summer plans. I did not care what I had to do; I was following through with the opportunity.
Eventually, everything began to fall into place. A sorority sister of mine ended up also getting offered a spot on the fun team, and another one of our sisters was gracious enough to let us crash in her studio apartment. We ended school in April, and I anxiously awaited the arrival of June. This opportunity consisted of four days from 10am -5 pm in which the Fun Team served as brand ambassadors for all of the sponsors of CMA Fest. We arrived on Wednesday, the day before the festival started. We could not wait to explore downtown Nashville and immediately drove into the city. Little did we know the CMT Awards were being held at the Bridgestone Arena that night. We walked out of our parking garage to find the preshow concert put on by Cole Swindell, and also watched CMT roll out the red carpet. Clare (my sorority sister) and I were in disbelief. We watched, talked, and took pictures with some of country music’s biggest stars on our first night in Nashville. We thought to each other, “If this is a preview of what the rest of the week is going to be like, we are in for an incredible experience,” and an unbelievable experience it was.
After four hours at the red carpet, we made our way to the CMA office to pick up our credentials for the week. After we arrived we were told where to park, and were given insight on what to expect for the week. The surprises did not stop there, we were provided with t-shirts, and the biggest surprise of all… two free ticket passes to the nightly concerts at LP Field, courtesy of the gracious CMA CEO. None of the fun team expected this and we were so excited that we got to share this amazing experience together. I would have never expected to have such a strong bond with random strangers in a few short days. The long hot days of spending 16 hours in the heart of Nashville, passing out free stuff, walking 14 miles, and getting bombarded by random strangers, was undoubtedly the best part of my summer. I cannot begin to express the thanks and gratitude I have for the Country Music Association for giving me this opportunity. All in all, without joining PRSSA last year, I would have never been presented with this opportunity among many others. I hope to one day work in the music industry and call Nashville my home, but until then I will keep dreaming of my future.
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