Another week down, halfway there to completing 4 weeks. This week started rough. I missed opportunities due to being absent. Out of 4 days, I only went twice. Moving forward, I will make a conscious effort to attend every day and make the most of each opportunity presented to me. I can wait for the next two weeks to come. They will be filled with new challenges and chances for growth. I am determined to stay focused and committed to reaching my goals by the end of the program.

As I came in on Tuesday, I realized I had missed out on being able to get instructions from the professor on our project. I had to learn to edit a podcast and I had to write out my script which I quite frankly actually enjoyed as I started and finished the podcast I was worried about how it would turn out because I don’t like the sound of my voice. During class we talked a lot about the investigation of journalism; we spoke of hip-hop and youth activism. Our guest speaker had a reading about Watergate. He talked about how, when interviewing, we had to make a person confident in order for them to speak about what we have as an investigation. He should know how the detective in the book went to the woman he was investigating and wanted to join her in a conversation, but she refused at first, and he used a pack of cigarettes to get himself into the apartment. He sat down and drank his coffee slowly to make more time for the conversation. Later that day, we got asked how many of us ran a newspaper and how many questions each of us used in an interview to help us gather information on whatever it was we would be writing about. During Professor Allan’s class, we had an in-class activity that was a short silent interview on Karen Garcia in which we figured out how many siblings she had, was she a leader or a follower, what activities she did, was organized, how she handled conflict, and where she was from, whether it was rural, suburban, or urban. We tried figuring all this out just by looking at her. We also learned about wide news broadcasts we had the chance to see the production studio in which we saw a spin platform and
Next attending day Thursday, headshots were taken, and we saw how different lenses and ways of taking a picture really elaborated on how the picture would look. We learned how we could align different backgrounds and blur the back of the picture in order to focus on the middle part of the picture being taken. On this day, we had a fun guest speaker come in and talk about AI and how her opportunity in the AYA program had given her the chance to expand her learning in a job. It gave her the option of being able to do lots of stuff through the program. The program helped her see a perspective on multiple things, like how she was able to see that her silly spirit and making people laugh were her ways of working. By posting things on social media platforms during COVID, she was able to record herself and make videos, which spread and helped many people. Since then, she has been a voice actor, and she has her own website where she makes shows and different things that support her community. She also loves to strive for her fun and joyful spirit. During her presentation, we had many moments of laughter, which she encouraged with her funny voices and jokes. She made her presentation very happy and elaborate at the same time. We had a very fun and interactive time during her presentation, which cheered everyone in the room up.
This week has been a journey. It’s been short and fun. As the days went by, we slowly started to realize that, indeed, these weeks were going faster than we had hoped. At the start of this program, I started off as worried, and uncomfortable, and didn’t want the first week to come. As we closed this week, I realized that with two more weeks to go, I have to make these weeks count and enjoy the time we have left with the people I’ve met and become friends with. I am grateful for the experiences and memories made so far, so here’s to making the most out of the remaining weeks and keeping up the amazing bonds that can form and how much can be accomplished in such a short period. 🎊