My first week at AYA has been filled with numerous relationships formed, a vast amount of content, informative insight, and experiences that will live on forever. That said, attempting to recall the emotions and experiences earlier in the week is a little difficult because Monday feels like forever ago. Still, the following post is my greatest attempt at recollecting this past week anyway.
Navigating my way out of the parking structure and through USC’s buildings was difficult, to say the least. Accompanied by my grandmother and mother, we passed by USC’s law, engineering, cinematic arts, architecture, and journalism school. We got excited when we saw Annenberg only to find out we still weren’t at the right place.
Nevertheless, Monday was an awkward but incredible start to the program. The breakfast was amazing and our classes started off chill. But what really made the first day for me were the guest speakers. Jordyn Holman, a business reporter at the New York Times, was great at relating to us and our mentalities when questioning the journalism field. Chanel and Kelly bounced off of each other to greatly describe the process of social media as a tool for marketing. Overall, Monday made me excited about these next four weeks, and it made me realize I had to start talking to people!!
Tuesday was content-heavy from what I remember. I spent the day shifting back and forth in my chair, listening to the professors talk. I’d kept the seat that I sat in during the breakfast on Monday which was right at the front. I didn’t feel good about it, but on Tuesday I realized it wasn’t so bad. The professors started talking about concepts and the work we had to do in the class.
A text that stood out to me was Educating the “Good” Citizen: Political Choices and Pedagogical Goals by Kahne Westheimer. This spoke about the various types of citizens and their role in intersecting with civic engagement. The text was thought-provoking as it made me question the level of time and impact I have on society and where I want to be.
AYA knows how to celebrate Juneteenth! As I boarded the Metro Wednesday morning, I could already see the liveliness in the streets. At USC, we had an amazing BBQ with food from Earl’s. I had about three plates of their mac and cheese. Subsequent to our great lunch, we went to the California African American Museum. It was fascinating to see the ways African Americans would celebrate their culture despite the various attempts our government would take to make them feel like second-class citizens. It was interesting to speak about what we were seeing amongst us as peers. Great food, great sights, and great weather, Wednesday was pretty cool!
Thursday was another eventful yet great day. At first, my AYA shirt fit too big and the day had warmed up, but it all turned out just fine. We took the Metro to Little Tokyo. The prominent part of the trip was visiting the Japanese American National Museum. The volunteers there were exceptional!! I like interpreting museum pieces, but the volunteers went above and beyond by explaining their families’ personal histories with the facts and pieces displayed at the museum. This made the museum visit fun and memorable.
I can’t write about our Little Tokyo trip without writing about the ramen spot we went to. The ramen was affordable and great! After that, my peers and I headed to the different stores Little Tokyo had to offer before we eventually headed back to USC. I actually stayed on the train because I head back home on the Metro anyway, but that was a wrap for AYA this first week.
The only goal I have for next week is to talk to a couple of people that I haven’t spoken to before. I’ll talk about this and how the week went next Friday!
Communicating Change 