This is a reflection of my third and final week at the Annenberg Youth Academy, where I took classes such as Communication and Civil Engagement and Journalism 101.
Participating in the Annenberg Youth Academy has been an incredible experience. From the very beginning, I’ve felt welcomed and inspired — not only by the faculty and speakers, but also by my peers, who are some of the most passionate and driven students I’ve met. AYA has truly been amazing.
Coming into the program, I already had some experience with print journalism as both a writer and section editor for my high school newspaper. But, AYA pushed me to explore new dimensions of storytelling, especially in broadcasting and podcasting, which I had never tried in such a professional and immersive setting. I’ve loved stepping out of my comfort zone, trying new things, and collaborating with people who care just as deeply about journalism and communication as I do.
One of the highlights of the first day was hearing from a panel of AYA alumni. They shared how they’ve carried the skills from AYA into college and their professional careers, and emphasized the importance of networking early on. Their stories were incredibly motivating and made me feel excited to take advantage of every opportunity I can. Later that day, I had lunch with Kymia Freeman, a USC Annenberg alum who now works at Mattel. She was so generous with her time, and I appreciated the chance to ask her about her career and journey.
Throughout the week, we dove into photojournalism in our Journalism 101 class with Professor Allan Lopez. I really enjoyed learning how powerful visual storytelling can be — how images can capture nuance, emotion, and context that words sometimes can’t. In class, we also discussed our final assignments. For our major assignments, I wrote a solutions journalism piece on sustainable fashion and created a photo essay and profile about my brother Luc, who plays soccer. Fashion sustainability is something very important to me, as I’ve started a nonprofit and a club at my school, Fashion Moving Forward, dedicated to upcycling and donating clothes. It was rewarding to work on stories that felt both personal and meaningful.
In Communications 101 with Professor Rogelio Lopez, my group created an infographic on teen mental health and a podcast about international students’ access to education in the U.S., and presented our projects to the class. Presenting those projects and hearing from my classmates about the important topics they chose to cover was such a rewarding moment.
On our final day, we had the chance to reflect together as a class and hear from Gordon Stables, director of USC Annenberg’s journalism school. He spoke about the importance of media literacy in today’s digital age, which really resonated with me. We also got to engage in a group reflection and talk about our takeaways from AYA. I loved hearing from my classmates about their experiences.
During our last journalism class, we peer-reviewed each other’s work. As a section editor at school, I absolutely love copy editing and giving feedback, and it felt great to be in a room where everyone was working hard to make their stories stronger.
I’m so grateful to professors Rogelio Lopez and Allan Lopez and to the peers who have inspired me every day. This program has made me even more excited about pursuing journalism in college, and it deepened my desire to apply to USC Annenberg. I’ve loved being on campus and getting a real glimpse into what it might be like to study here.
I am excited for next year’s cohort of AYA students who will be able to gain such a valuable experience. Graduating from the program feels bittersweet, but I leave feeling more confident, curious, and connected than when I started. Fight on! ✌️
Caption: This is a photo of the Hahn Plaza, located in the center of USC. I have absolutely loved learning on this campus for the past 3 weeks, and I hope to have another opportunity to be back soon. Fight on!
Communicating Change 