Claire Hughes Email and Phone Number

Part-time employment while at SLU Law and while studying for the Bar Exam; working with customers and building a knowledge of specialty beverages, home goods, and gifts.

During my time at EDA, I was tasked with communicating with the 10 recipients of the annual scholarship program and facilitating their final paperwork, checks, and interviews. At the same time, I was also helping compile the annual Dealer/Manufacturer report. This meant keeping large binders of information related to both tasks and being able to complete what was needed in both areas on schedule with tight deadlines. Both of these tasks were daunting and required a lot of focus and attention to detail in order to make sure that all of the pieces came together in a timely fashion and became somewhat overwhelming. In order to make all of the work seem less intimidating, I set out a daily schedule for myself. In the morning when I arrived at the office, I would go through my emails and phone messages and from those I would make a to-do list for the day in order of what needed to be done the soonest. Throughout the day, I would check things off and add things as necessary and try to make the most out of my time without over scheduling myself. At the end of every day, I would then make a tentative to-do list for the next day based off of upcoming deadlines that I knew of and items that still needed extra attention from the day before. In doing this, I found that I had more focus and less anxiety about getting everything done. It was easier to keep all of my responsibilities straight when they were written down and scheduled. From this experience, I have learned how much of a difference effective time management can make in the overall success of a task. I also learned the importance of working hard and pushing myself to do my best work, while also making necessary deadlines and remaining on-track with responsibilities.

During my time as a peer consultant, most of my work has consisted of having appointments with individuals to work on their public speaking skills. Most of the time, this required me to conduct appointments with individuals who were older or even graduate students, and I worried about trying to instruct those that were ahead of me. I began to get anxious when I saw these types of appointments on my schedule and realized that I needed to do something in order to combat those stresses. In order to do this, I would look at the appointment form and see what type of assignment or topic that they were coming in to work on. Then, I would research that assignment or topic in order to have some educated background knowledge. This made me feel more confident walking into appointment and I could speak from a place of deeper understanding. I would also review general guidelines and instructions that I had been educated and trained on in public speaking, which gave me confidence in knowing I was not only well prepared, but also well trained and specialized in this area. When I took the time to invest in these appointments before they happened, I found that I became less anxious when faced with what I thought may be a difficult one. These experiences have taught me about the importance of preparation and diligent work, as well as the need to trust myself and be confident in the knowledge that I do have.