has gone by in a blur. I have learned so much, I’ve made new friends, heard from guest speakers, and I have been able to explore more of USC’s campus. It will definitely be a week I will always remember.
On Monday, the first day of the program I was nervous because I didn’t know what exactly to expect because I haven’t had any experience in journalism and communication. But I was mostly excited for this program because USC has been my dream school for college so getting into this program has meant a lot to me. We had a very delicious breakfast with our parents before our day of learning began. Our first task of the day was hearing from our first guest speaker Jordyn Holman who is a business reporter for The New York Times. Her story from how she started her career, her experiences, and where she is now in her life was very inspiring. We then started our Communications 101 class with Rogelio Lopez where we learned what the class was all about and what we could expect in the next coming weeks. We heard from more Chanel Lake who is vise president of influencer marketing Edelman and Kelly Uchima a mental health advocate. They talked to us about influencer marketing. After a great lunch, we started our journalism class with our professor Alan Lopez. We had our first ever lesson with him and before the end of the day we made a zine which I had no idea what it was before the class had even started. I learned a lot from just day 1. I am so beyond excited for what’s to come in the next few weeks.
On Tuesday, we started our day with our COMM 101 class. We had a lesson on Civic Engagement and their core concepts. We went over two readings that were assigned to us from the day before and had a discussion. I was one of the facilitators for our first sets of reading. I was very nervous but excited to learn about the job. My favorite reading was “Good Citizen” by Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne. Then we had our guest speaker for the day which was Melanie Cherry. She gave us a presentation on public relations. I learned that there are different jobs and responsibilities when it comes to PR. In our Journalism class, we learned about nut grafs, writing tips, and Juneteenth. The next day we would be having our field trip to the California African American Museum.
Wednesday was a very special day. It was Juneteenth. We had our field trip with our Professor Alan Lopez. During our Communication class we had a lesson on Civic media. Civic media is seen in many different ways. For lunch we had a BBQ from Earls barbeque to celebrate Juneteenth. It was so delicious. My favorite thing that I had was the mac and cheese. Once lunch was done we walked to the California African American museum (CAAM). We walked through the Exposition Park Rose garden while we were walking to the museum. While we were at the museum we explored every exhibit. All the exhibits had a different theme that was filled with all types of beautiful art that really showed African American history and their culture.
On Thursday, we had our next field trip to the Japanese American National Museum. We were able to explore Little Tokyo a little bit before we had to meet our group at 9:40 in front of the museum. I learned more about the history of Japanese Americans. I really enjoyed hearing stories from the volunteers that were there at the museum. They explained many artifacts and what they were. Every room was in chronological order which was something that I really liked about this museum. After visiting the museum we all went to lunch and had ramen. We were able to explore Little Tokyo on our own which was really fun and such an adventure that I will never forget.
This first week at AYA has been so much fun. I am so grateful to have been a part of every moment. I am so excited to continue the journey of being in this program.
References:
Japanese American National Museum https://www.janm.org/
Reading for “Good Citizen” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ABtUjt97lOnJ6oWGpt4QstRAERp6_vty/view?usp=drive_link
Communicating Change 