Sarah Lynch

Why Appalachian State University? I have always loved the mountains. My mother is an Appalachian State Alumna and I always knew I was going to attend Appalachian State just like she did. Unfortunately, I was not accepted right away, I was waitlisted to the spring semester. Despite the news, I decided I was going to make my enrollment to the fall semester a priority. I visited the admissions office and because I showed initiative, I was able to enroll to Appalachian State's 2014 fall semester.

Why public relations? When I came to college, I was a student who did not know exactly what I wanted to do yet. I used the school's resources and went to the career development center to complete questionnaires and tests in order to find a match to my personality in an undergraduate major. Public relations was among the top three results, so I gave it a try and fell in love with my classes and grew fond of my professors. Now, I am one semester away from graduating and I find myself thinking about how much I will miss the atmosphere and energy from my classes and professors.

Why history? I have always been a history buff. The moment I knew I wanted to incorporate history in my life was after I watched the movie "National Treasure." Seems silly, but since then I have had a curiosity and respect for world history, especially the formation of the United States of America. Thankfully, I have been able to gain experience in both public relations and history through my two internships. One thing from my internship at Tryon Palace which has always resinated with me is the fact that visitors would come to the museum because of the writing and promoting I did for the organization. To give an example, Tryon Palace had a "Lunch and Learn," where guests would bring their lunch to the museum while listening to a lecture on a historically relevant topic. During my lunch break, I noticed a line of guests had developed to attend a specific Lunch and Learn about the history of dogs as pets, a program which I had written a press release for. The feeling of positively promoting events for the museum in order to educate visitors on historical topics is a feeling I had never felt before, and I knew I wanted to continue to bring people and publics to any organization I work with.