Who Is Alyson?
An insight into the type of person I am and yearn to be.
My name is Alyson Lorence. I am eighteen years old and from a small town in Southern New Jersey. I am technically a first-year student at Montclair State University, but I earned enough college credits in high school to obtain my Associate’s Degree. Therefore, I am a freshman with a junior class standing at Montclair. I am currently majoring in Public Relations. So far, I am loving my major and I am excited to see what future semesters hold for me. I am a very goal-oriented person. When I devise a plan, I usually stick to it, until I have accomplished what I need to succeed. Academic goals have always been the main priority for me and remain a large part of my life. Being that my college experience is a lot different than most people, I don’t have as much time to reach these goals. I plan to graduate from Montclair with my B.A. in Public Relations by Spring of 2022 with a g.p.a of 3.5 or higher. To build my brand, I am currently working at a photography studio in my hometown as an assistant photographer and I do freelance work on the side.
Photography has always been a passion of mine and I find myself taking a camera with me wherever I go because you never know when a photo opportunity could spring up. I am also interested in videography, theatre, and community service. For me, I tend to overlap community service and photography quite often. In high school, I took pictures during service activities and enjoyed both helping the community as well as documenting it through pictures. When photography doesn’t feel like a job, that is when it is the most fun for me. Taking pictures for friends and family and seeing a huge smile on their faces at the outcomes fills me with the drive to keep taking pictures. I believe I have done my best work when photographing friends and family. Over the months of quarantine, I would get together small groups of friends and photograph them. I called it a “social distanced photo op”. Two specific shoots I enjoyed was one using a mirror outside and another for a friend whose boyfriend is in the marines. I loved toying with aperture and reflective light during these shoots, and editing these pictures went so smoothly.
If I had to choose a dream job, it would be working as a public relations specialist for a non-profit. I believe I would be combining photography, service, and great communication skills into one career. To work towards this major goal, I am studying as hard as possible. I am taking my major classes extremely seriously and staying service-oriented outside of classes. I volunteer whenever I can, always being sure that my camera is dangling from my neck. To achieve this goal I need to stay gritty. To have grit means to constantly work at something no matter the obstacles or the time that it takes to achieve. I have had this dream job stuck in my mind since I began applying for college. I have what it takes to stick to a plan no matter the highs or lows life throws at me. My motivation comes from watching my parents work jobs that they were never quite happy with. They settled with their careers because they passed up many opportunities in their education. I don’t plan to settle. I would rather be making less money doing something I love than making six figures and being glued to a desk all day. I yearn for that creative element in my work and I will do whatever it takes to get there.
