1. Molly Kristene Edde
Communication Studies Major
Environmental Studies Minor
Graduation Spring 2015
6832 Townsend Lane
Bremerton, WA 98311

2. When I first step foot onto Central Washington University’s campus, I was amazed at all
the opportunities that were surrounding me. I remember at freshmen orientation, seeing all the
new faces was such a thrilling experience. With my father also being a fellow Wildcat, I had
always known that I was going to follow his footsteps since we are fairly similar. With that being
said, I also thought I wanted to go into the business world as my father did. I took an economics
class my freshmen year and knew right away that this was not for me. I took the next few years
to finish up my general education credits and heard about this unique degree called Global Wine
Studies. Majoring in wine? That seemed like a great idea at the freshly turned 21 year old I was.
However; taking a few classes in that major, I once again realized this was not for me. When I
was first looking at the Global Wine Studies major, they provided a list of minors that would be
beneficial with the major. Communication Studies was one of the minors and I chose that to be
my minor. Taking those couple of Communication Studies classes was when I finally decided
that this was the major for me. Communication Studies seemed to have many opportunities and
that is what first drew me into the major. The first Communication Studies class I took was the
introduction class with Nadean Vevea. I absolutely loved the way she taught the class, and from
then on every class that I took with her was always one of my favorite classes. Learning about
how we communicate with one another was fascinating to me. I believe I found it fascinating
because what you learned in class could apply to real life situations. Which is a blessing and
curse, because I find myself several times analyzing my friends’ conversations with each other
and dissecting the details of it. From taking my general education classes, I learned quickly that
dealing with numbers wasn't my thing. So, for me to be able to take these concepts from class
and apply those to life allowed me to enrich my education.

3. As for the future, I would love to take my degree in Communication Studies and apply it
to the non-profit world. My dream job would be to work for a nonprofit environmental group
that focuses on water quality or food issues in the Seattle area. Throughout my Communication
Studies classes, I have learned a great deal about group work and I have learned to enjoy
working in groups. I think it is an amazing entity when a team of people can come together and
work with each other’s strengths and weaknesses to obtain a goal. I have also taken a few
organizational and leadership communication classes. I will take my knowledge from those
classes and bring it with me to the nonprofit world.
With majoring in Communication Studies, I was aware that this major was very broad.
Without any specific route into any industry. This is why I decided to minor in Environmental
Studies. My senior year in high school, I took AP Environmental Science and was intrigued by
the class. The class opened up my eyes to all the issues that are occurring in our world. Many of
us are blinded or are unaware of these issues. Which is what truly interested me into the
environmental studies minor. I had taken advocacy classes that revealed to me what I could do
with my unique combination of these two degrees. This is what made me want to work in the
nonprofit world. Many grassroots organizations came into my environmental leadership class.
These grassroots movements inspired me to work in the nonprofit world. I hope that I can use my
major in communications to contribute my knowledge of projecting messages to people in order
to help campaign for these nonprofits that are advocating for environmental issues. The reason
why I am interested in water quality and food issues is because these two issues are not well
known to the public. Of course people know about poor water quality in Africa, but people are
unaware of the poor water quality right in their backyard. The food industry is the top
contributors to CO2 emissions. People are also unaware of this. When people think of CO2

4. emissions, they think of oil or other large fossil fuel based products. They do not think about the
salad they ate for lunch causing Green House Gases. These are the issues I want to inform the
public.
Throughout my communication studies career, I have been equipped with a vast skill set.
I have my class selections to thank for that skill set. One of the most beneficial classes I took in
my communication studies major was Small Group Dynamics. This class outlined how to
conduct a productive group meeting, how to build a successful group, and what could be done
when the group is unsuccessful. For my career path that I plan to take, this class will be the most
beneficial. I have used the standard agenda outline for all my other group projects. For my fourth
student outline learning objective, I used my analysis of a group to reveal my knowledge of
group work. Another class that I found useful for my future career was interpersonal
communication. Interpersonal communication was the class where I used the concepts and
applied them to my everyday situations, the most. Interpersonal Communication taught me how
to engage and flourish positive and supportive relationships. This class will be useful for my
future because it will allow me to create those great relationships with co-workers and perhaps
clients as well. It will also help with my personal relationships too. My Conflict and
Communication class also will also be very beneficial for my future career. This class taught me
that conflict is not a bad thing. Conflict will and has to arise at some point, and it is completely
healthy for that to happen. I had always thought that conflict was a negative aspect in a
relationship. There were many other classes that will help me for my future career, but these
three classes are the ones that I believe I will apply to the nonprofit world the most. All three of
these classes will help guide me to be a successful in my career.

5. There were also many other classes that have taught me how to be professional. These
classes will guide me towards being successful in a professional manor. Whereas the previous
three classes gave me a skill set that will enrich my relationships. The class that has helped me
become more professional has been the public speaking classes. My Businesses and Professional
Speaking class will guide me to being able to speak effectively while being professional. I have
attached my informative speech in my learning objective three. This speech was an informative
one that reveals my professionalism. Another class that has helped me on the road to
professionalism is the Advanced Public Speaking class. This class has truly allowed me to come
out of my shell to speak clearly, and efficiently. It also taught me to not use the words “like” and
to not use “uh” as a filler words. I believe that now, with these two classes, I have mastered the
act of speaking professionally. Lastly, this portfolio class has also helped me out tremendously.
Having a professional eye look at my cover letter and resume is such a fortunate opportunity,
that many people do not have.
The communication studies department has many strengths, with some weaknesses that
could be addressed in order to enhance the program. My experience from the program was
overall positive. I am equipped with a vast skill set that will be very useful for my future career.
The strongest part of the department is the professors. Every professor I had for all my
communication studies classes was very passionate, and engaging. Which allowed for a positive
learning environment for the students. I enjoyed how the majority of the classes was discussion
based which created a daily class discussion. I found this the most successful way to lead a
communication studies major. A weakness of the program would be the lacking of guiding the
students to a future career path. With the communication studies major being a broad concept,
there isn’t a guide for students to know what to do with that degree. We learned so much in the

6. classes, but we weren’t guided or given examples of what we could do with that knowledge.
Thankfully, I have a minor that gives me some type of guideline for my future career. But for the
students who simply just major in communication studies, there isn’t any instructions on what to
do with your major. A solution for this weakness could be a one credit class that could help
direct students to find a job that would fit them with the communication studies degree. This
class could correlate with the portfolio class, or there could be a separate portfolio class for the
communication studies major students.
The three beginning classes I took for my communication studies major is the
Communication Orientation, Media and Culture, and Communication Ethics and the 1st
Amendment. These classes provided me the basics for communication and outlined what the
major entailed. The communication studies required courses I took were;
 Introduction to Communication Studies
 Small Group Dynamics
 Interpersonal Communication
 Intercultural Communication
 Rhetoric
 Persuasion and Culture
 Organizational Communication
 Language, Thought, and Communication
 Advanced Public Speaking
 Communication and Analysis and Research
 Senior Seminar

7.  Portfolio Assessment
Then, for my elective course I took the History of Television and for my media
requirement I took Mass Media and Society. Then I took twelve credits from organizational
communication which were Business and Professional Speaking, Conflict and Communication,
and Communication and Organizational Leadership. I also took Nonverbal Communication from
the relational communication.
As for my minor I took the following classes;
 Ecosystems, Resources, Population, and Culture
 Global Environmental from a Local Perspective
 Environmental Management
 Energy and Society
 Environmental Leadership and Advocacy
 Environmental Law
My experience at Central Washington University has be overall very successful and positive.
It may have taken me an extra year than normal, but I will finally graduate this spring with a
degree. With my major of communication studies and my minor in environmental studies, I hope
I can work with an organization that can help make the world a better place. My time at Central
has molded me into the person I am today, and I am very hopeful for what the future has in store
for me.