Professional Portfolio

PROFESSIONAL
PORTFOLIO

Aya Benazizi

COM2301: Professional Communication
Supervised by: Dr. Agnaou
Summer 2019

Table of Contents

Job ad …………….………………………………………………………………………… 2
Cover letter ………………………………………………………………………………… 6
Resume …………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
Letter of intent ……………………………………………………………………………... 8
Recommendation letters ………………………………………………………………….... 9
Reference Form …………………………………………………………………...……… 12

Artifacts…………………………………………………………………………………… 13

1

Job Ad

2

3

4

5

Cover Letter

Aya
Benazizi

CONTACT June 24, 2019

ADDRESS Foreign and Commonwealth King Charles Street
Office London
Et Fourate Street, SW1A 2AH
Maarif
Casablanca, 20330 To Whom It May Concern,
Morocco
I am applying for the diplomatic service officer position advertised
PHONE on your website, which I accessed on 24 May. My education
qualifies me for the position as I have received my bachelor degree
+212691461813 in Arts in International Studies, with a minor in Human Resources
Development. I would appreciate you considering me for this
EMAIL position.

benaziziaya@gmail. When reviewing your company website, I learned that Foreign and
com Commonwealth Office is a company I would feel very capable
working for. Through coursework in both international studies and
LinkedIn Profile HRD, I have developed skills in written, oral as well as multimedia
expression, which you require for this position.
http://linkedin.com/in/aya-
benazizi-25a696189 I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss with you my
qualifications and interest in foreign affairs in person at your
earliest convenience. Please reach me by email at
[email protected] or by phone at +212691461813. Thank you
for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

Aya Benazizi
Encl. Résumé

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Resume

Aya
Benazizi

OBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE
A position of a
diplomatic service From 18-06-2019 To 12-06-2019
officer in the Foreign Service Learning Site-visit • Association des Jeunes D’Ifrane •
Affairs Office that deals Ifrane, Morocco
with foreign policy and
service delivery. o Attend meetings with the members of the association;
o Write reports and professional emails to find sponsors for
ADDRESS o the association.
Et Fourate Street,
Maarif EDUCATION
Casablanca, 20330
Morocco Exchange semester at Pitzer University, Claremont, California,
US, Fall 2019
PHONE
+212691461813 Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco, 2017-2021

EMAIL o GPA: 3.6 | Dean’s List in Spring 2018
benaziziaya@gmail. o GPA: 3.61 | Dean’s List in Fall 2018
com o Major: Bachelor of Arts in International Studies;

LinkedIn Profile Concentration: International Relations
http://linkedin.com/in/aya- o Minor: Human Resources Development
benazizi-25a696189
Baccalaureate Degree with distinction: Moroccan, specialized
in Chemistry and Physics, 2017
[You might want to include your GPA here and a brief
summary of relevant coursework, awards, and honors.]

SKILLS AND
COMPETENCIES

o Communication skills
o Critical and constructive thinking
o Decision-making skills
o Problem solving skills

LANGUAGES French: Fluent
English: Fluent Spanish: Beginner
Arabic: Native



LinkedIn Profile: http://linkedin.com/in/aya-benazizi-25a696189

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Letter of Intent

!

Aya Benazizi

94 El Fourate Street, Maarif
Casablanca, 20330, Morocco
+212691461813
[email protected]
http://linkedin.com/in/aya-benazizi-25a696189
!

June 24, 2019

Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH
!

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to express my strong interest in the position of diplomatic service officer in the
Foreign Commonwealth Office, as listed on prospects.ac.uk. I am an undergraduate student
with big interest in foreign affairs and a record of excellent written and oral communication. I
believe that I would be an ideal fit for this position at your organization.

I am skilled at communicating effectively with diverse people with different cultures and
backgrounds. I have been interviewing experienced and international people for my
professional communication class. I also took some business classes in which I developed my
commercial and financial awareness as well as proactive management approaches that I can
use at work. Throughout my studies, I have developed a critical thinking, which made a good
decision maker who deals well with the unexpected. I am a person that cares a lot about
details, and who is able to work under pressure. Also, I am very sociable and successful in
building productive relationships.

In addition to my demonstrated skills, I am also minoring in Human Resources Management
that enriches my knowledge about conflict resolutions, employee satisfaction, training and
development, and the budget control.

Given my education, skills, and interpersonal abilities, I am confident that I am a strong fit
for this position. I look forward to speaking with you in person with my qualifications.

Best regards,

!

Aya Benazizi
!

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Recommendation Letters

Smita Kumar

24 June 2019
To whomsoever it may concern
It gives me pleasure to write a recommendation for Ms. Aya Benazizi for the professional communication
course.
I came to know Aya Benazizi when she took my Introduction to Human Resource Development
course in the Spring of 2019. In a class with diverse students, Aya was able to make an impression
with her active class engagement. Aya is committed towards learning and makes effort to seek
clarification and goes over and beyond the requirement.
Aya immerses herself wholeheartedly in all the assignments and enthusiastically participates in the
group presentations and discussions. In this course, students are required to explore their
understanding of human resource development through preparing a real-life case study in an
organization, which Aya and her team did with dedication and honesty. Aya’s curiosity and
organizational skills played a critical role in the successful completion of the case assignment.
However, Aya will need to maintain a consistently high level of class engagement at all times, even
during the challenging times of multiple assignments or class presentations.
Given Aya’s commitment and sincerity, I do believe she is a strong resource wherever she goes.
Please feel free to contact me if you need any additional information or clarification on the
recommendation.

Warm regards,
Smita Kumar, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor in Human Resources Development and Mindfulness
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
+212 (0) 535 86 2436 (tel.)
+212 (0) 535 86 29 77 (fax)
[email protected]

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10

27-06-2019

Monica Festa
English Rhetoric Lecturer
Office 003, Building 10
AUI University, ext. 2930
[email protected]


To Whom It May Concern,

It is my pleasure to recommend Aya Benazizi for the available position. She was in my fall 2018
composition class and was a student with great writing capabilities. Not only did she possess a passion
for writing, but she was also well-organized, always on time, actively participated in every class and
eager to seek guidance for further improvement. She came to the course with a natural ability to
express herself in writing accurately and with sophistication. As a result of her dedicated hard work,
talent and positive attitude, she was one of only a small handful of students who earned an A grade.

If chosen, Aya would be a reliable, highly effective and valuable asset to your team. I wish her the best
of luck in all her endeavors and sincerely hope she is successful as a candidate. If you would like to
discuss Aya’s qualifications in more detail, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone or email.


Sincerely,



Monica Festa

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Reference Form
12

Artifacts
13

14

“A” Paper

Exercise and Anxiety
Aya Benazizi
PSY 1301 03

November 25, 2018

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Exercise and Anxiety
Exercising and staying physically active improve our physical condition and help us to
resist to diseases. Exercising is also vital for enhancing our mood; it reduces fatigue, stress,
depression as well as anxiety. A study has shown that people who are physically active have
very few syndromes of anxiety and depression (Otto & Smits, 2011). Also, regular and
healthy exercises help in the elevation of stress, anxiety, depression, and all negative effects
(Weinstein et al., 2015). In fact, people who exercise regularly have a lot of mood benefits
that keep them away from anxiety disorders. In an adolescent study, researchers have fount
that 16% of those who do not exercise suffer from anxiety disorder over a period of four years
comparing to those who exercise regularly (Otto & Smits, 2011). Thus, exercising helps us to
repair a normal mood.
Furthermore, the mood disorders involve unipolar depressive that contains only
depression, and bipolar illness that contains manic or hypomanic episodes (Otto & Smit,
2009). Actually, there are several types of mood or anxiety diseases. Yet, suffering from any
of those anxiety illnesses is suffering from the same symptoms such as feeling worried,
avoided, keyed up, tense, edge, and troubled (Otto & Smits, 2011). Anxiety disorders affect
28.8% of adults in their lifetimes, and it stay longer when they do not treat it immediately and
correctly (Otto & Smits, 2011). Panic disorder is one of the anxiety diseases. The most
focused symptoms of the anxiety in panic disorder are the breathlessness, dizziness, pounding
heart, numbness, and tangling sensation (Otto & Smits, 2011). Indeed, those symptoms of
panic disorders push people to be ashamed and lose their control. Steve, who was suffering
from a panic disorder when he was fired from his job, became completely free from panic and
had his life back after starting a regular and healthy workout (Otto & Smits, 2011).
Moreover, exercising improves our mental health by making the brain deals better with
stress as well as anxiety. Psychological, psychiatric, nursing, and social work settings are all

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contexts where exercising is designed as primary and speciality cares (Otto & Smits, 2009).
Aerobic stepper exercise is also sufficient for anxious people. Researchers have reported that
a 50 minutes aerobic exercise had higher anxiolytic effects for those who suffer from high
state anxiety than those who have lower one (LeBouthillier & Asmundson, 2015). Also, acute
physical exercises are sufficient in reducing stress as the case of relaxation and autogenetic
training (Guszkowska, 2009). Therefore, encouraging patients to exercise and have healthy
habits is the best way for treating anxiety even if it is going to be difficult for them. A study
has demonstrated that people who suffer from anxiety and mood problems face difficulties in
accepting exercise habits (Otto & Smits, 2009).

There are many explanations in order to prove that exercise really helps to decrease the
rate of depression and anxiety. First, exercise is one of the best stressors because it needs a lot
of efforts; thus, it makes the body adapted to that effort and able to produce it each time (Otto
& Smits, 2011). Second, exercise helps to overpass traumatic life events that make us anxious
and even some times depressed. The adaptation to stress and anxiety is one of the powerful
roles of exercising (Otto & Smits, 2011). In addition, neurotransmitters are an important part
in reducing a person’s anxiety by exercising. Minimizing the levels of neurotransmitters
(which are the ones in charge for the contact between brain cells) reduce also the level of
serotonin that is responsible for increasing the risk of depressive or anxiety disorders (Otto &
Smits, 2011). Exercise is a behaviour that affords a relaxation from all types of discomfort
such as stress or anxiety (Weinstein et al., 2015). Depressed and anxious people suffer from
severe insomnia, and it can aggravate depending on their status. The disrupt sleep cycle is one
of the effects of anxiety and depression that disturb the person’s mood (Otto & Smits, 2009).
However, exercise helps them to organise their rhythm of sleep as well as stabilize their
choppy mood.

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Anxiety can split into two types: cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety. Guszkowska
has shown in her studies that cognitive anxiety (such as thinking about bad experiences, being
worried for the future, problems in concentration, and disrupt sleep cycle) is higher than
somatic anxiety comparing to people who have meditation training (2009). Energy and
tension are two components of anxiety that can be affected by motor activity. Thus, exercise
is efficient for reducing tension and increasing the energy, which mask the anxiolytic effects
just after one hour of exercising (Guszkowska, 2009). Thus, the more energy increases, the
more state of anxiety elevated. On the other hand, other studies have demonstrated that
anxiolytic effects in women are connected to the anxiety state before and after aerobic or yoga
exercises (Guszkowska, 2009). Actually, aerobic exercise (such us running, cycling, or
rowing over time) is one of the successful ways for reducing anxiety. It was demonstrated that
two weeks of aerobic exercises succeed in reducing even high state anxiety in both clinical
and non-clinical cases (LeBouthillier & Asmundson, 2015). Studies also have shown that
women who are engaged in aerobic and yoga exercises have no difference in stating and
traiting anxiety (Guszkowska, 2009). In addition to that, aerobic exercise is linked with more
extreme anxiety connected to sensations (such as sweating and muscle tension) that lead to
introspective exposure then to reducing anxiety sensitivity (LeBouthillier & Asmundson,
2015).

It is true that the advantages of exercise are higher among anxious people and can be
beneficial for their mental health (Otto & Smits, 2009). Nevertheless, excessively exercise
can be dangerous for both physical and psychological health. Studies have shown that
obsessive exercise for professional and recreational goals increases the rate of anxiety and
depression (Weinstein et al., 2015). Although there are no clear reasons for having depressed
and anxious people who exercise regularly, obsessive exercise is one of suggestions that may
cause anxiety or depression (Weinstein et al., 2015). Since exercise addiction leads to

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depression and anxiety, those excessive exercises can’t be efficient to reduce neither anxiety
nor depression (Weinstein et al., 2015). Certainly, there is no study that shows the correct
dose of exercise that can be the best antidepressant action (Otto & Smits, 2011). However,
having a healthy exercise treatment that is recommended by experts will absolutely has a
good impact in reducing state anxiety.

The magic of exercising is the fact that mood can be enhanced just after the first trial.
When you start exercising, you can expect being shielded from stress and anxiety as well as
stabilized your mood (Otto & Smits, 2011). Aerobic exercise has an immediate and sharp
decrease in the rate of anxiety after the exercise sessions. A study has demonstrated that
individuals in the aerobic exercise experienced an immediate decrease in the anxiety
sensitivity during the whole following week (LeBouthillier & Asmundson, 2015). Also, other
studies have shown that exercise’ effects on anxiety are the same of antidepressant medication
(Otto & Smits, 2011).

Anxiety and social stress among adolescents are the major difficulties that face them
during their school-life (Kliziene et al., 2018). These difficulties are due to peer pressure, fear
of expressing themselves, or receiving negative evaluations. Researchers have found that a 7-
month exercise had positive effects on improving psychological adjustment and decreasing
the rate of anxiety among adolescents (Kliziene et al., 2018). In order to make the middle
school-aged students interested in exercising, physical education lessons are the best push
factors for that. A study shows that physical education seeks students to improvement and
satisfaction, which make it valuable and meaningful as pedagogy to gain their interest
(Kliziene et al., 2018). Furthermore, regular exercise not only decreases state anxiety, but also
improves self-esteem and reduces the hopelessness level in adolescent girls. However,
untreated anxiety disorders can lead to dangerous problems. Kliziene et al. have demonstrated
that untreated anxiety that appears in childhood may last till early adulthood, which is going

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to aggravate the adolescent’s statue and makes it difficult to treat (2018). This is why
providing a physical education system to adolescents is very important because it will make
them aware of the role of exercising to cope with anxiety.

To sum up, failing in having a regular exercise program is normal, especially in the very
first trials. Yet, losing the desire of exercising should not drive us because it is going to affect
badly our health as well as our mood. Having a fitness goal, such as a perfect body shape and
losing weight, is one of the dominant causes that lead people to leave of exercise (Otto &
Smits, 2011). In order to overcome this problem, people should think of the short-term
advantages of exercise that stabilize our mood, protect us from heart diseases and anxiety
disorders as well as diabetes. Also, for a better result in treating anxiety, the combination of
exercise with medication or talking therapy when it is needed will be beneficial for patients
(Otto & Smits, 2011).

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References

Guszkowska, M. (2009). State/trait anxiety and anxiolytic effects of acute physical exercises.
Biomedical Human Kinetics, 1, 6-10. Retrieved from
http://libproxy.aui.ma/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d
b=eric&AN=EJ913402&site=eds-live

Kliziene, I., Klizas, S., Cizauskas, G., & Sipaviciene, S. (2018). Effects of a 7-month exercise
intervention programme on the psychosocial adjustment and decrease of anxiety
among adolescents. European Journal of Contemporary Education, 7, 127-136.
Retrieved from
http://eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet /ERICServlet?accno=EJ1172912

LeBouthillier, D. M., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2015). A single bout of aerobic exercise
reduces anxiety sensitivity but not intolerance of uncertainty or distress tolerance: A
randomized controlled trial. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 44, 252-263.
doi:10.1080/16506073.2015.1028094

Otto, M. W., & Smits, J.A. J. (2011). Exercise for mood and anxiety: proven strategies for
overcoming depression and enhancing well-Being. New York, NY: Oxford University

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Press. Retrieved from
http://libproxy.aui.ma/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d
b=nlebk&AN=372423&site=eds-live
Smits, J.A.J, & Otto, M. W. (2009). Exercise for mood and anxiety disorders: Therapist
guide. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from
http://libproxy.aui.ma/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?Direct=true
&db=nlebk&AN=1202945&site=eds-live
Weinstein, A., Maayan, G., & Weinstein, Y. (2015). A study on the relationship between
compulsive exercise, depression and anxiety. Journal Of Behavioural Addictions, 4,
315-318. doi:10.1556/2006.4.2015.034

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