Florida Atlantic University Athletics
First Day with a Bang
12/6/2012 12:00:00 AM | General
Dec. 6, 2012
The first day of a new job is usually pretty boring and predictable; introductions to staff members around the office, receiving your company email, filling out paperwork, etc. My first day of work with the athletics' media relations department was not quite what I had planned. As soon as I arrived, I was informed that there would be a meeting to attend within the next hour that included the entire athletics department. It turned out that I was starting work on the same day that FAU was announcing that it had officially accepted an invitation to join Conference USA. From a media relations standpoint this was big news and also meant that I got thrown right into things on my first day. After the athletics department meeting where Athletics Director Pat Chun announced the news to staff, I went to the stadium for a press conference announcing the news to the media.
My first assignment was to take photographs of the press conference and post them on the FAU Athletics website. Back at the office, everyone in media relations was busy working on something relating to the Conference USA news. You could hear media personnel interviewing players down the hall and the entire office was discussing the news and what great things that meant for FAU. Just as everything started to calm down in the office, my phone started vibrating.
"Armed intruder/shooter in Arts & Letters. Boca. Remain alert. Seek shelter in secure location. Follow police instructions" was written in a text message on my phone. Quickly, the commotion in the office began to unsettle. The entire campus immediately went on lockdown. As I tried to continue my work, I kept receiving updates on the situation through text, email, and phone calls. You could hear discussions all over the office on what people had heard was going on. One of my co-workers was able to put the news on from his laptop. Reporters were all over the streets outside campus reporting on any updates they heard. Traffic outside campus had come to a stop and no one was being let in or out. The campus stayed on lockdown till about 4 p.m., of course right in time for the work day to almost be over. By the time everyone calmed down it was time to go home for the day. My first day had definitely been exciting, especially from a media standpoint. I got to witness two huge events, one that was sports related and one that was not. With so much commotion on my first day, my second day had a lot to live up to.
