However, I’d like to take that answer one step further. It’s not often you can come to such an innovative company that when you return to school you can begin to teach them how to do their job. Ohio University is one of the most highly regarded journalism schools in the country. Their Online Journalism sequence is highly regarded for its uniqueness and foresight to step in to an area that is taboo for many other schools. While I cherish the education I have been given, I feel at this point I can begin to start pushing the university as a whole in a 21st century direction.

When you mention the word "blog" in a journalism classroom there are a few typical responses.

1. "Blogging is the downfall of journalism, it’s not professional and the writing skills are inadequate."

2. "Blogs can not be trusted, it is unethical for a journalist to think about blogging, and it is unethical for others to trust blogs, anyone who blogs will lose credibility."

3. "Blogs are OK, I read them sometimes, but unless it’s Steve Jobs, I don’t take it seriously."

Does that seem odd to anyone else? It’s obvious that J-schools are hesitant to peak outside the box for fear of losing credibility. But when companies come to PR, advertising and marketing firms looking for the most innovative ideas, it’s obvious that the digital world needs to be taught in a different way in classrooms across the country.

Without my experience at MS&L this summer I would never have the confidence or ideas to come back to my educators and insist that they consider revising curriculum to better suit these students when they enter the real world. So let me briefly mention some of the things I will be taking with me when I leave MS&L:

• The excitement of knowing that there is a company who has the foresight and capabilities to offer their clients the best
  
• The courage and the knowledge to change minds relating to digital components when I return to school
  
• The belief in myself that I am on a solid career path with the ability to be an innovator because it’s what companies such as MS&L look for
  
• A pen and a pad of paper

There comes a point in school when you are tired of getting posed questions and no one ever having the answers. If there’s anything additional I’ve learned it’s that there are companies and agencies out there that are starting to come up with the answers. I’ll give an example. In journalism, a major question is of course, “Print readership is down everywhere, what can we do about it?” Well if you said what I’m about to say, then you’ll be kicked out of school as quickly as you can say New York Times. What if you did nothing about it? What if instead you focused all your efforts in to attracting new, young, Gen X, Gen Y readers to come to your website? What if you had all of your staff, including senior executives, writing a blog on a daily basis? Of course there are gray areas here because you flirt with professional bias, but doesn’t statistics show that this generation yearns for transparency in all their online endeavors?

Overall I just want to say I am very happy with all the experience and with all the work I’ve provided for MS&L. I look forward to seeing what is in my future and the future of this company. There are so many talented people here that it makes you better, and for that I am forever grateful.

Ed note: Mike has taken up blogging over here, where you'll find an abridged version of this post.