Hi, I’m Zack.
Recent indecisive college kid, current slightly-more-decisive job-seeker. After majoring in philosophy and communication in college, I decided my greatest strength was my ability to communicate complex ideas to an audience verbally or through writing.
My main source of excitement and fulfillment is the opportunity to share great ideas. I love to create or learn new things and share them with an audience, even if it’s just one friend.
I’ve directed this passion for learning and creating to many different activities and subjects in my life. From playing basketball and music to studying communication and philosophy, I’ve brought great attention and effort to a wide variety of things.
And while many of my interests come and go to some extent, my passion for learning and creating rarely wavers. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a feeling that when I learn something new and exciting, I have to share it with other people.
College
My passion to learn and share great ideas is very broad. So, I had a tough time deciding on my major in college. By the time I was finishing my associate’s degree at Richland Community College and transferring to Millikin University here in Decatur, I was just then deciding on a major. I chose to major in philosophy, and later added a second major in communication.
The material of these two majors was the most interesting to me, and that was my reason for picking them. I did not have my mind set on landing any particular job. Was that a mistake? The jury is still out on that…
Whether the majors I chose were the best for job prospects or not, there’s no question I made the best choice for my college experience.
In my philosophy degree, I got to read and write about absolutely fascinating topics. I learned about free will (or the lack of it), the self (or the lack of it, too), ethics, and plenty more. In these courses, the subject matter was so captivating to me that writing 5, 10, or even 20 page papers about them was as fun as it was challenging or tiring.
When I studied communication, I was equally fascinated by the material. Presentations on non-verbal communication, projects about social media, and papers about communication theory all posed challenges. But these challenges were met happily with an interest in engaging with the material.
This was especially the case in my role as program director of Millikin’s radio station, WJMU. In this role, I kept track of playlists and paperwork while also doing plenty of creative work. Some of this work included writing scripts for shows and promotions, producing things like station liners and show intros, and even co-hosting a live show about crazy and satirical news for a year.
My enthusiasm towards what I was learning made college a great experience for me. I never fixated on grades. But since I was so interested in what I was learning, I made the dean’s list repeatedly. In May of 2023, I graduated summa cum laude with bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and communication. And I still barely know what summa cum laude means!
Since Graduation…
I’ve been improving my skills and finding ways to apply them. The abilities of researching, writing, project management, and communication that I developed in college have translated well to different roles I’ve found myself in.
The first of these roles was a substitute music teaching job at South Shores Elementary School. I taught kids from kindergarten to 6th grade musical concepts and showed them how to play instruments. My background as a musician (though an amateur), was vital to this position. But the communication and planning skills I developed in college were equally important. Developing lesson plans, instructing students, and resolving conflict all proved to be challenging, but my education prepared me well for them.
I’ve also done some freelance copywriting since graduation. I’ve spent a great deal of time reading marketing books, studying effective copy, working on spec pieces, and writing content. The researching and writing skills I built in college have been very useful in freelance copywriting. If you would like to see examples of some of the work I’ve done, you can visit the portfolio page on this website.
And of course, I’ve continued to write about miscellaneous topics of interest as well since graduation, which can be found on my blog. Some topics I’ve covered include happiness, artificial intelligence, power, and staying composed in college.
The ideal job for me isn’t far from what I do with my blog. In my blog, I work to understand something and then communicate it to an audience. A job where I get an opportunity to do something similar is ideal. This could be a job where I advise students, tell an audience about a great product or story, or teach people something useful. Specifics aside, my goal is to learn and communicate valuable information.