Professional Statement

As a senior in the B.U.S. program at the University of New Mexico, my collegiate educational career has taken me through many courses of study. The focus of my degree is English, with an emphasis on professional and technical writing. I have prior experience in customer service and as an emergency medical technician, which have helped me develop my skill as a communicator, and as a collaborative member of a team. My current position as a paralegal at a small law firm gives me ample opportunity to write, communicate and work with a team.

I am skilled in a wide variety of communication, both written and oral. In my time as an EMT I often explained complex and technical medical situations to patients in clear concise terminology that they could understand. Now I use that skill to explain complicated legal situations to clients. My ability to communicate with clients puts them at ease when they are entering the stressful world of litigation. Making a patient or client comfortable is an essential element of any successful practice, medical or legal. 

In the most recent semester I enrolled in English 418: Grant and Proposal Writing. The word performed in that class was highly team based, and gave me the opportunity to highlight my skill as a productive member of a collaborative effort. In addition to working in a team, English 418 required me to understand rhetorical strategies and apply them to real life experiences. Every grant and proposal written by my team was specifically tailored to the target audience, and used the appropriate appeals to logos, ethos or pathos. 

In addition to professional communication, I have used my skills to create documents for my personal life, including a manual for the groomsmen in my wedding.I used my knowledge of rhetoric and communication to create an interesting document on a particularly boring subject, the clothing requirements of my groomsmen. 

In this ePortfolio I have chosen to include work from English 418, my job as a paralegal and my personal life as a groom. From English 418 I have included a Podcast and a Grant that will be submitted to the Ford Foundation. For my job as a paralegal I have included a letter to opposing counsel in a family law case, and for my personal life i have included my Groomsmen Attire Manual. These works demonstrate my exceptional ability as a writer, communicator and collaborator.