CloseIn preparation for this year’s Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) study course, we’re featuring our chapter’s current APRs! Classes meet weekly starting February 24 from 5:30 – 7 p.m. and will last for nine weeks, with a break the week of March 14.
Madi Winkler, APR, is the chapter’s latest practitioner to earn the designation. Here’s what she has to say about the process:
“I earned my Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) during the absolute dumpster fire of a year that was 2020.
Earning my APR has been something I felt passionately resolved to accomplish since my first public relations course as a 19-year-old college sophomore. As my accredited professor explained the designation, I remember sitting there, thinking, “I want to do that. I know I can do that.” Since then, I’ve had the incredibly good fortune to be mentored by some of the best practitioners in the business, some of them donning their APR, too.
After being forged in fire and good PR practice during the first couple of years in the industry, I decided earning my APR was not only feasible, but necessary. I wanted to contribute at a higher level.
I applied in late 2019 and actually performed my panel presentation in February 2020—before the pandemic hit—in front of a live panel of my peers. I took my exam in July, also in person. It was easier to mask up and go into the testing facility than risk fighting with my sometimes-spotty connection, had I chosen to complete the exam online using Prometric’s new option.
Studying for something of this magnitude—something I’ve wanted for several years now—gave me an escape from the scary things I was facing in my personal life. It gave me a distraction and a means to improve my professional standing. Last year was not kind to me, or anyone for that matter, but earning my APR gave me something to smile about in 2020.
On a professional level, earning my APR allowed me to obtain a much better understanding of the strategies at play in a constantly shifting corporate environment. Our team handles quite a few high-profile programs, and communicating about them can be tricky at times. Having my APR gave me added confidence and a much more solid platform from which to practice.
Earning my APR was such a rewarding process, and with the vast array of resources available to our chapter’s practitioners, it can be for you, too. “