It’s a well-known fact that attending college is not cheap. Part time jobs on top of a full course load sometimes barely put a dent in our debt. But, what would you do for money to help pay for your college education?
Women across the nation have been submitting videos for rapper, Juicy J’s, Scholarship competition. All he asks is for the competitors to mention him, WorldStar Hip Hop, and to play his new song, “Scholarship”. It’s a smart move to help promote the new single. The competition has created a buzz which brings people to his website. There, viewers will hear his new song in every video. But, that’s not why I’m covering this. I’m writing about this competition because many applicants have went beyond the requirements to get noticed…They twerk in their video submission.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I went to college to prepare for/create a career path for myself. I cannot help but think that many of these video submissions will hinder these women from starting their careers. If you’re going to enter the competition, that is fine. $50,000 would be extremely helpful. However, think about these next few bullet points before you start twerking.
1. Reputation
I found it very interesting that some of the top videos were of women working towards degrees in communications and education. As someone with a degree in public relations, I realize that reputation and personal brand is not only important in this industry but in every industry. You not only represent yourself but you represent your employer, clients, and people you associate yourself with.
Do you really want to be remembered as the girl with the twerking video?
“While I wish that I had applied to a million scholarships for college, this video will never go away. It’s now in space world. Employers may be Leary of hiring because they don’t want this as representation of their company.” – Ashley A. (PR practitioner)
2. The Internet will forever haunt you.
Once you post something, there is no going back. First off, you just gave Sony the rights to your video. This isn’t your blog or Facebook page where you can take a post down when you want to. Even if it is taken down, there is no saying that someone didn’t record it, re-share it, or that it can’t be retrieved. With applications like Vine, recordings of videos are shared all the time. There are also websites that can retrieve information from websites from previous dates, regardless if the information is currently not there.
There have been plenty of accounts where teachers are fired over inappropriate content posted online, from Facebook statuses to old modeling photos. I can’t see a YouTube video being any different. Employers and School (Graduate) programs tend to Google potential candidates.
Have you ever Googled yourself? I know I have. My Myspace page popped up and I immediately wanted it removed. (It was more embarrassing than anything.) Well, your entry to this contest is going to pop up when you or someone else Googles you. There’s a good chance that it will be one of the first hits on your results page and that there will be other links sharing the original post.
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Whether it’s entering Juicy J’s competition or just posting online through any social medium, be cautious of its repercussions. I’d also like to mention that I do realize it can be a struggle to pay for college tuition. I’ve been there. I just recently graduated and will begin paying off my loans that I took on top of paying some upfront. I PROMISE you, there are much better ways to receive scholarships than this.
“It’s awesome that young women are trying to uplift themselves by getting an education, but doing it through twerking isn’t the way to go. It’s ass backwards. And yes, that pun is intended. — Recieving a scholarship for twerking doesn’t show the hard work it took to get to college or how she’s grown as an individual.” – Candace (Graduate Student)
Rebecca Potzner 
This is exactly what I thought when NKU published that article last week. Kind of disappointing.