{"id":17616,"date":"2022-09-30T03:47:53","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T03:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/?p=17616"},"modified":"2022-12-04T17:19:11","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T17:19:11","slug":"alumni-philip-jackson-speaks-to-communication-students-about-the-importance-of-networking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/blog\/2022\/09\/30\/alumni-philip-jackson-speaks-to-communication-students-about-the-importance-of-networking\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumnus Philip Jackson speaks to communication students about the importance of networking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philip Jackson, North Carolina National Forest Service Public Information Officer, spoke to students in COMM 296 – Intro to Professional Development and COMM 496 – Seminar in Professional Development on Monday, Sept. 12.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson graduated from Western Carolina University in 2013, majoring in Communication with a concentration in Broadcasting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While in school at WCU, Jackson served as a sports editor for The Western Carolina Journalist. He also interned at Fox News in Highpoint, NC. At Fox, he focused on sports and went with photographers out to shoot content. Jackson also edited videos there and built video packages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduating, he served as an operations supervisor for United Parcel Service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI made decent money and grew comfortable,\u201d said Jackson.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, after a while, he realized he wanted to pursue more of what he went to school for.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson went on to spend several years at Duke University\u2019s Hospital and Department of Pediatrics. At Duke, he made brochures, facilitated guest speakers, wrote materials for speakers, and live streamed speakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson has also worked with UNC Athletics and as the Communications Manager and Health Education Supervisor at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. At NCDHHS, he also filled the role of Public Information for the branch of Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHP&R), where he aided in technical assistance for communication efforts in the state\u2019s answer to COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stationed in Raleigh, Jackson now creates content and materials to promote, protect, and manage state forests. Such content includes talking points and speeches, statewide and local news releases, various designed materials, and content reviews.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson credits much of his professional success to networking with people at WCU and people from his internship.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cUse the resources right here in front of you, and you will be okay,\u201d said Jackson.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Spasovksa, Associate Professor within WCU Communication Department, to this day is one of my four references,\u201d said Jackson.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Regarding post-graduation, he advises students to just find something to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of my classmates, including myself, did not immediately find their dream job, and you may have to piece two to three part-time jobs together,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cHow bad you want it and whether or not you are willing to go through the rough times to get there is what will determine your success.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly, he encourages students not to hesitate to contact and connect with him via email at <\/span>philip.jackson@ncagr.gov<\/span> .<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philip Jackson, North Carolina National Forest Service Public Information Officer, spoke to students in COMM 296 – Intro to Professional Development and COMM 496 – Seminar in Professional Development on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3261,"featured_media":17620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[108,114,120,132,336,129,135,347,201,364,316,159,162],"class_list":["post-17616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-spotlight","tag-broadcasting","tag-career","tag-event","tag-internship","tag-news","tag-professional-development","tag-student","tag-student-organizations","tag-wcu","tag-western-north-carolina","tag-wnc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17616"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17733,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17616\/revisions\/17733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}