I often hear people say they didn’t do something because they were afraid to fail. Even though they had always wanted to be a part of that organization or go away for school, they decided not to do it because, in the back of their minds, they didn’t believe they could be successful. It’s an idea that lives in everyone’s subconscious because at the end of the day, why would you want to work for something if it was going to end badly. Now, just imagine a world where those thoughts didn’t exist, and failure wasn’t an option. What would you do if you knew success was a certainty? This is the question I asked myself when deciding to move forward with my second semester of BrandJRNY.
In the spring of my Junior year, I spent most of my time working on projects that revolved around BrandJRNY and the rebranding initiative of Pineville, WV. Working as a videographer for Professor David Smith’s visual brand storytelling class, it was my job to capture moments that would eventually become visual content for the BrandJRNY Capstone’s campaign. It was a demanding semester that took away weekends and a lot of free time but, the emotions I felt when watching the town of Pineville embrace our work with thanks and praise, was something I had never experienced before.
As the semester came to a close, BrandJRNY had started to become something that I fully believed in, and I wanted to contribute more of my time. The summer before my senior year, I had to decide what capstone course I would be pursuing. My heart screamed, BrandJRNY. Being able to build a rebranding campaign from the ground up, working with amazing leaders who had already done so much to help the state of West Virginia, being a part of something bigger than myself…it all felt right. Then my brain kicked in. I already knew the workload I was taking on in my senior year, and the long hours I would be devoting myself to. I had already committed to leading the BrandJRNY visual brand storytelling team, and I knew that if I decided to pursue the capstone course, I was going to push myself harder than I ever had in the past. I kept asking myself, what happens if I can’t take it all on, what will I do if I crash-and-burn eight months before I’m supposed to graduate. I knew success wasn’t a certainty, but that wasn’t how I was going to look at this amazing opportunity that was laid out in front of me, so I took a chance on myself and went for it.
Midway through the semester, my capstone and visual brand storytelling team went down to the newly selected town of Point Pleasant, WV for the annual and well-attended Mothman festival. I knew this was going to be my first test of finding a balance between working with both my capstone and visual brand storytelling team . It was a headfirst dive into an extensive two-day affair of taking videos, getting to know the town and the community, along with collecting surveys from festival attendees.
It was nowhere near perfect, but I learned something about myself that weekend that I will take with me through my remaining time with BrandJRNY. Every moment is a learning experience. Whether you are failing or succeeding, having fun or feeling down, just by venturing into that unknown you are growing as an individual. I didn’t know if I would succeed in this challenge and I still don’t know with 100% certainty, but I do know that just by believing in myself I will become a stronger person. I’m already moving in the right direction and I look forward to continuing my growing with my team and pushing myself to the limits with BrandJRNY.
“My name is Nick Morin. I am the Digital/Social Media Director of the BrandJRNY Capstone team as well as the lead Videographer for the BrandJRNY visual brand storytelling team and I’ve never set a goal that I didn’t plan to fulfill” - @NickMorin_