Communication as a concept seems simple. Something easy to grasp and understood by most people. Going to COMMS 101 showed me how wrong my preconceived notion of communication was. With a vast array of different niches, communications is far more complex and ever-evolving than I originally thought. The introduction of civic engagement and media involvement turns the very idea of communication sideways. Understanding how your actions affect what kind of citizen you are and what kind of citizen you want to be. Our facilitated discussions reveal each one of my peers’ opinions of civic and political engagement and portray the large assortment of lives we have gathered here at the Annenberg Youth Academy. Journalism 101 was everything I was hoping for and more. Just the introduction to the class and our activities makes me excited for the upcoming weeks. The zine assignment was a fun introduction to our weekly assignments which was a smooth transition. Our first Vox Pop was one of the most interesting things ive been assigned to do in a long time and I thoroughly enjoyed wandering the streets of Down Town Los Angeles and interviewing people from various ethnic and economic backgrounds. Im intrigued to what other prompts and assignments this class will have for us. Our guest speakers were also phenomenal, I greatly appreciated Channel Lakes speech about what she does for her company and how we were able to follow the same path as she did. Public Relations is something that interests me greatly and meeting people like Ms.Lake and Ms.Cherry are amazing moments to network and find opportunities to get my self into the PR world.
Having the opportunity to visit the California African American Museum (CAAM) was a great experience to see what media can do for civic engagement. The beautiful sculptures crafted delicately and with care in order to paint a semblance of African American stories in California. Powerful stories of discrimination and breakdowns are shown with artistically crafted stories created by these citizens who want the voices of those who were silenced and oppressed to be finally heard. This trip provided us with a perfect example on how to use the resources we have at our disposal to use our voice for Civic engagement.
The next day we had a trip to Down Town Los Angeles. Specifically Little Tokyo. The purpose of this trip was to visit the Japanese American National Museum (JAMN) and learn about the injustices Japanese people had to face at the hands of the American government during WWII. Leaning about how the Japanese Americans took up journalism in order tell the stories of their own families hardships of being forced from their own homes. Seeing their stories told and the injustices enacted upon them despite their love for their country of America and the discrimination they faced from the very people they tried to defend.
Over all my first week in Annenberg’s Youth Academy was phenomenal. Connecting with my peers from so many different social status and from different parts of Los Angeles larger county. It instills me with a lot of hope for my future and really inspires me to better myself not only as a student, but as a person. I want to leave AYA with a sense of accomplishment and a sense of fulfillment knowing that I was one of only 26 students who were fortunate enough to be chosen to be apart of the 2024 cohort.
Communicating Change 