Marshall students were challenged to envision their funerals Wednesday in room 105 of Corbly Hall as part of the “How to Market Yourself” event for the Lewis College of Business’ Professionalism Month.

Attendees listened to a lynda.com lecture during the event in which the speaker asked participants to think of what will be said about them at the end of their lives.

President of Marshall’s chapter of the American Marketing Association Cody Hatten said the unusual topic caused him to question how he interacts with others.

“It was the most uncomfortable, but I really thought that funeral activity was the one that hit home,” Hatten said. “I looked at it from the perspective of if I left a job. What would be something that people remember me for in a positive way? Did they think I was a hard worker until the end?”

Hatten coordinated the event with AMA advisor Liz Alexander. Alexander said she watched the lecture prior to the event and recalled an important memory when asked to imagine her own funeral.

“I actually was at a funeral a few weeks earlier and the preacher at the funeral said, ‘You preach at your own funeral, when you live your life.’ I thought that was such a very simple, new way to think about how you present yourself to others,” Alexander said.

Junior marketing major Ellen Castro said each challenge presented in the workshop, including having to think of her own funeral, helped her gain confidence when thinking about settling into a job and working with others.

“I’m scared about being involved with a business and being like, ‘I don’t really want to do this,’” Castro said. “It’s good to get a broad understanding of a business before you accept a long-term position. Setting goals is a good thing, and sharing them with other people. And find positive things about yourself that you wouldn’t necessarily think about on a day-to-day basis.”

Alexander said she hopes students will be encouraged by this and future events throughout Professionalism Month to understand employers’ expectations to land their dream jobs.

“One of the things we say in the college of business is, ‘Your success is our business.’ And this is just one way that we want to make students successful, whether it’s successful in graduating, in getting that first job, or ten years down the road in getting promoted and moving up the ladder,” Alexander said.

Alexander said the goal of Professionalism Month is to provide students with opportunities to gain knowledge to benefit their future careers that may not be discussed in their classes.

The next Professionalism Month event is titled “Dress for Success” and will be 5:15 p.m. Thursday in Corbly Hall room 106.

Rebecca Turnbull can be contacted at [email protected].