Our short, three-day week comes to a close today. I didn’t realize how much I’d enjoy spending my summer at USC, but it’s safe to say that I’d do it again — if I could.
Our last week was mainly one of final projects and reflection. Team Guava presented our civic action zine, “Your Vo(te)ice Matters,” emphasizing the importance of having adequate resources and how voting impacts our democracy. We also presented our podcast on red-pilling and the harmful effects of being unaware of political biases in society.
Additionally, AYA alumni visited to recount their experience being in our shoes and how AYA has contributed to their future endeavors. Receiving personal advice on networking, college, and eventual career paths was insightful, and the success and accomplishments these past cohorts achieved made the future seem a little less intimidating. During lunch, my friends and I had the opportunity to connect with Kymia Freeman, a recent USC Annenberg graduate who now works at Mattel. Her story was helpful because she relayed how majoring in journalism wasn’t for her, and she instead found value in switching to public relations. As someone who prefers to work on the more creative side, it was helpful to connect with a mentor who was once in my same position.
The previous two weeks at AYA have been incredibly memorable, and I’ve learned so much — from the frameworks of theory and encoding/decoding to creating media projects that demonstrate how communication can be utilized in various forms to convey one’s message. AYA has demonstrated how vital it is to have critical media literacy and being aware of various sources.
In all honesty, I came to USC without really knowing how renowned the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is — I wasn’t even completely set on applying to USC. I genuinely just wanted to get more hands-on experience in fields that I planned to pursue in college. Yet through this program, not only did I build long-lasting connections with my peers, but I also ended up really appreciating the rigorous environment, engaging faculty, and campus. I’m now planning to apply early action, and would be honored to have the opportunity to call myself a future Trojan!
Thank you for everything, Professor Rogelio, Professor Allan Lopez, and the Trojan family!
Communicating Change 