Let’s go back in time! My journey to USC Annenberg began 2 days before the application deadline. My fellow colleagues and I all had little to no hope when it came to actually being accepted yet on April 25, we all received our fate for this competitive program. I was in the middle of my Algebra 2 class, and a notification from my Gmail had come through on my phone. I had been accepted! So many emotions had traveled through my body: excitement, anxiety, sadness, stress, shock, and an array of more emotions. I knew this was a huge opportunity that I couldn’t pass up but realizing this was the last time I would have summer break as a high school student saddened me. This was the summer that was supposed to be the most memorable with my loved ones. But attending classes at USC has been a lifelong dream ever since I could remember, I said yes.
The night before the first day at AYA was overall normal. I didn’t feel nervous or have a queasy stomach, which is my usual reaction to new adventures. That is what frightened me the most. I went to sleep around 2 am, which may seem late, but again it is normal for me, especially during summer vacation. My mom and I woke up nice and early. We both woke up around 6:30 am and got ready to leave soon, as we commute on the Metro train. The ride to USC brought back memories from middle school because we would always ride on the train. That nostalgia made me tear up a bit because that was about 5 or 6 years ago, and now I’m using the train to take classes at a massive university. We had a bit of a complication entering the campus, so we got there a bit late. After the small parent introduction, it was our turn to get started. Our first class was very short due to the guest speaker we had on our first day. But in the short amount of time, we were able to get to know a bit about our teacher, Prof. Rogelio Lopez. Learning about him and his background made his story very relatable. He gave me hope that despite having setbacks in life, you can still accomplish so much. Something that really resonated with me was the fact that he was a first-gen graduate, who was once lost within the whole college process because he had no family he could rely on for this specific matter.
I was lost on what Communication 101 would be about. I had only heard the name of the class and never really investigated more of it. I didn’t know what to expect, but it sure was complex when we dove a bit deeper. The comms classes were based on the idea of civic engagement and what that was in media. We got to build on the idea of how everything started. One of the readings we discussed in class was the three different types of citizens. They basically consisted of the bare minimum citizen, the one who acts on an issue, and the one who finds the roots of the issue. These were really interesting because it was a basis of how much time you put in determines the outcome. That was one of the many highlightable moments I have in our first class of the day.
The biggest adventure we had this week was our field trip to the Japanese American National Museum! I had always wanted to go there but hadn’t until Thursday. It was so interesting to see and read everything about what the Japanese went through. Some of the real events occurred in California and in Little Tokyo, where the museum was located. The best part of that experience was our helpful volunteer/tour guide. The wonderful lady, who’s name I cannot recall unfortunately, told us about her personal experience and a bit of an insider of what went down after the attack on Pearl Harbor and WWII. She was actually a prisoner on a concentration camps in Arkansas as baby. She recalled her experience as normal because that’s how they wanted this camps to be for the children. Three generations of her family had been in these camps, whereas their experience was m0re intense. After the thorough tour, we were greeted by Mr. Fukunaga, Darcy’s father, who was so generous to bring our class mochi from a family-owned mochi restaurant. Once we got that done, we ate ramen and were able to explore the area of Little Tokyo. In our little group we had an amazing time exploring the city that was relatively new to us. Overall, it was an amazing first adventure that was brought to us by AYA.
Communicating Change 