ÿ�մ���

Blog Post Written by Bryanna Worthy

April Marvin, a 2023 College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters (CASL) communications graduate,  is now the current digital marketing and content specialist for CASL. However, her journey getting here was far from traditional. She started college in 2002, but due to her exceptional social skills, her academics fell behind during the early stages of her college journey. In my interview with April, she recalled, “I was a bit of a social butterfly and kind of let my academics fall in my first two years at Dearborn, and ended up leaving after my sophomore year.” After leaving, she began working for a retail corporate chain where she was continually promoted to higher positions. This opportunity led her to train different management teams across Michigan as a regional trainer, causing her to leave her educational dream behind. After 16 years of contemplation, April started to regret not finishing her degree. So, after one terrifying email to admissions, April received a resounding “yes” to come back to Dearborn, which she said was, “probably one of the best top ten days of my life.” 

She returned during the Winter 2021 semester. She said one of the best moments upon returning was walking into her first class with a professor she had in 2003. “Life felt like a full circle moment,” April said. The professor was Associate Professor of Communication, Troy Murphy. Since 75% of the classes in Winter 2021 were online, she messaged him on Canvas with the following text: Hey, I'm sure you get this all the time. But you probably don't remember me, I had you for Speech 101. From there, they had a conversation about life and how the journeys we take can surprise us. The interaction they had made April feel solidified in her decision to come back to school. Afterwards, she was able to immerse herself in all things the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters had to offer.

The start of April’s communications/public relations journey began by taking Comm 260 with Professor Margaret Murray, who sparked her interest in public relations. After the first class, Dr. Murray talked to all of the students about a campus club called PRSSA, and made April feel like PR was the right place for her. After some encouragement from her professor, April decided to pursue a PR certification and join PRSSA. April said, “PRSSA was just this place where students could go who were like-minded. They really wanted to hone their communication skills, work on networking, learn about public relations, and all these great careers involved.” With some determination, she was able to land a fantastic internship with the Mental Health Association as a public policy and law intern. There, she worked directly under the CEO and president and was recognized by the CEO for her passion for public relations and communication. Her outspokenness during that internship, in addition to being a sponge and taking on everything that she possibly could, allowed her to discover her true passion and grow from there.

Now, as an alum, April works for the Dean's office in CASL, where she focuses on marketing, digital and web design, writing, and social media content. By going to the ÿ�մ���, so many doors opened up for April Marvin to bring her to the place that she’s at now. Even though there were trials and tribulations, she said that “in the end it was all worth it.” To wrap up my interview with April, she shared this: “I came to this campus and I was immersed in different cultures, different people, different religions, everything. I love this campus for that because I wouldn't have been able to experience that at all, and my eyes wouldn’t have been open to so many things that I truly am passionate about now.”