Monday
Today during communications class all the groups for the final project got together to work on the assignment for about forty five minutes. It was really fun to work with a group. In a way it was also meant that it’s the end of the program because it’s THE final. Willow Bay the Dean for USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism spoke with us. We went over the results of the Gen Z Media Consumption study we had done. It was so cool to hear from her and what the results meant. Right after we heard from our guest speaker Callie Schweitzer LinkedIn’s Head of Community Programs via zoom. We talked about networking, and LinkedIn. I started working on my account right after this meeting. For Journalism class we started planning for our final newscast for the program. We pitched ideas of stories we can talk about.
Tuesday
Our guest speaker for today was Reuben Hernandez who is a Senior Assistant Director within the Office of Undergraduate Admission here at USC. I got a lot of information about the admissions process that I didn’t know. Our group also got to do a writing exercise to help us with the college essays. It definitely got me thinking about what I should write for it. It’s so exciting knowing that in almost a year from now I will be applying to colleges in my senior year. We had fifteen minutes right after to ask questions to Stephanie Vargas who is an Annenberg Admissions Advisor and ask her questions about the Admission process. We all then went to lunch at Everybody’s Kitchen.
We didn’t have to go back to class until 1:15 so I decided to go to Starbucks but there was a big line so I speed walked over to Coffee bean. I got my drink at about 1:07. I started sprinting my way back to class so I would not be late. During journalism class, we had a guest speaker Hali Mecklin who is a student at USC pursuing a bachelors degree of Arts in Journalism. She was doing a story for the L.A. Magazine on the LAUSD phone ban and she wanted to get our input to put into the story. Right after we started writing scripts for the final newscast.
When leaving for the day, as I was walking on campus I found about three baby kittens by the Downey parking structure. They were so tiny.
Wednesday
Today during Communication’s class my group and I were able to finish our media toolkit! Today is our second to last day of the program. Our guest speaker for today was Denise Estrada who is a Assistant Director of Outreach at USC’s Financial Aid Office. She gave us a presentation and answered our questions about the financial aid process when applying to colleges. I don’t know much about financial aid so this was a topic that was nice to get information on. For Journalism class, we had two guest speakers that spoke with us. Itzel Luna who is a Wall Street Journal Intern. She attends Stanford University and she is double majoring on Sociology and Journalism. She is first generation college student. I will also be a first generation college student as well. Our conversation with her was very inspiring. After that we heard from Jude Ocañas who is a sports talk show host at Annenberg Media. To end the day we went through the final rundown of our final newscast in preparation for tomorrow.
Thursday
It’s our last official day of the program. It felt like it was just yesterday that it was our first day at AYA. We started off our last morning hearing from our last guest speaker, Gordan Stables, who is the director of the School of Journalism. During Communications class, our professor gave us a final reflection of the class. It made me look back on everything we achieved during the program. We had about an hour to ourselves right after to work on our final assignments. For our final lunch we all went to Everybody’s Kitchen. It was not as packed as it was yesterday. When getting back to class we heard from two guest speakers and we got to hear about their experiences at USC. Our professor Allan Lopez brought his Emmy for us to see which was cool to hold an actually Emmy. Before ending our final day we went into the media center and did the final newscast.
Friday: Graduation Day!
The day has finally come. Our graduation day for this program. My last reflection. This was such an amazing opportunity to be able to be apart of this program. When starting this program I had no idea how fast these four weeks would have gone. Every week at AYA was nothing but fun and filled with so many memories. We were welcomed with a breakfast in the patio of the Annenberg building. During our ceremony we got to hear from Brittany, Karen, and our professors. Our parents got to see work we have done during this program. We got certificates for the completion of the program! A year ago today I had no idea what this summer would bring and what I would be doing. This has to have been the best summer I have had. I am so grateful to have been able to be a part of the AYA class of 2024.
Communicating Change 