About

At the beginning of my college career, I came in with an idea of what I might want to do. I was a pre-major with the intention of majoring in Electrical Engineering. In the back of my mind, I felt a little unfulfilled because I didn’t think what I was going towards served my abilities and skills and I wanted to get to a path where I can develop the skills that I have even more. During the pandemic, it gave me an opportunity to take some time to think about where those skills would be better served. I felt that going into Media and Communications Studies will allow me to enhance my writing skills because that is a skill that I can be stronger in and feel more comfortable using production equipment as well as broaden my understanding in social issues. I also wanted to acquire skills that I can improve on that may be important later in future career paths like public speaking and considering an audience. I felt like those were qualities that were important to excel at when it comes to collaborating in production. My college experience at the University of Washington Bothell has given me an opportunity to find myself in many ways that has led me to this point where I am able to thrive in my skills, challenge my thinking, and achieve my goals for the future.

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One of the ways where I felt that I was able to enhance my writing skills the most is my final research proposal titled Public Perception of a Major News Event Based on Political Ideology. This paper was written for my Interdisciplinary Inquiry class and it was one of my first writing projects in my journey in MCS. I was able to suggest a research project that looks at how viewers of different news networks might respond to a news story. I was able to put forward a 12-page inquiry that was developed throughout the course of the quarter, complete with pictures and representations. I've also given an initial look at the research I did, along with the methodology and how I would approach learning more about this subject. Given that it crosses several of my interests including media and sports, I was interested to learn more information through research. I was also able to plan and draft my writing throughout this paper in order to refine my research as effectively as I can, which has made the writing process a little smoother. I believe that all of these components made me a stronger writer. Being able to pay attention to details and knowing how to organize and structure my writing in a way that is cohesive are skills that I was able to develop and continue throughout the rest of my writing for future classes and beyond. This represents a starting point for what I was able to accomplish and a reminder of how far I came as far as researching, outlining and organizing. There might have been aspects that I was able to improve on like synthesizing texts and analyzing evidence that could be useful in my writing for future career opportunities.

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Another aspect where I grew my skills in production is the podcast that I developed and created called Erasing the Stigma for the Media Production Workshop course. This comprises a feature story in the style of a news magazine that runs for about five minutes. Overall, this project helped in enhancing a collection of skills, which included interviewing people and research. For example, I wanted to find more information regarding the amount of mental health resources available to students as a starting point. I found that despite recent improvements, there is still a stigma associated with mental illness as well as whether there has been any significant improvement in people's ability to receive care, particularly among students which has made me want to dig deeper, asking various members of the campus community. I also was able to speak to an audience in addition to editing and using production equipment on the field and post production. For example, I was able to introduce my story in a way that is appealing to the listener and edited the audio to make the feature more engaging incorporating sounds from around campus and using a professional software to put all of those sounds together. This podcast really showed the versatility of my skills that I was able to produce. When it comes to producing work like this there are people designated to a specific task. Having this opportunity to have a hand when it comes to developing a story idea, coming up with a script, doing voiceovers and interviewing people, and editing shows my ability to maneuver in each area. It has helped me get some experience of what it is like to be part of each process in production. This is one of those experiences where it has taught me to be able to master more than one thing in order to be unique within your abilities which is something I would take throughout my career.

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An aspect where I feel improved on my skills of public speaking is the podcast I did called Monopolizing Media. This was for the course Media and Communication Studies along with the UWave Radio platform. One of my first contributions to student media included using my voice for UWave Radio, the campus radio station. I was able to speak on the effects of media consolidation and how that affects what we consume digitally and in entertainment. Being able to express informative and engaging content to a wider audience and figure out which information is necessary to include in the podcast was a good way to build more confidence in my words. For example, I was able to be more direct instead of rambling. In addition, it was my first time using all of the equipment in the studio. I was also collaborating with the other co-hosts, and I was responsible for editing the podcast, which was a wonderful learning experience. I was also able to work with others in order to incorporate all of our findings in a 15 minute podcast. I feel that I was able to improve in public speaking particularly because I had to keep those factors in mind when it came to the recording of the podcast. I had a couple rehearsals before filming in order for me to be more efficient before we started. I always wanted to improve on those skills especially during my time on campus and those considerations that I listed would help me better find my voice and lean into that because it is important. I also learned the importance of making sure what I am saying carries substance and is informative. Being responsible with my voice and saying factual information is something that I will take into account especially in the digital age where false information can be easily spread. 

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I also think that I carried those public speaking skills through my interview with Dilara Kal that was used for a story which was incorporated in audio and print formats. This was for the Advanced Media Production Workshop course. After UW Bothell went back to in person learning, I wanted to do a story that highlighted how students are adjusting now to being able to connect with others on campus. I also wanted to learn how it was affecting clubs and organizations on campus. I set up an interview with Kal, who was a member of the Bothell Beats club. Being able to cover a wide range of topics in a short amount of time that I had available showed how I was able to have the confidence needed to build a connection with not only with the interviewee but also the audience I’m reaching to be able to provide the relevant information. I felt like that opportunity gave me a chance to apply skills in my own podcasts and articles that I can use for future production opportunities in my career.

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By highlighting the skills that have been prominent in my development, it has shown just a glimpse into how I have been able to build upon skills that I am more confident in. Having the ability to push myself to learn skills that I can use to grow is also important. I wanted to showcase that with an array of work that best represents how those skills have progressed and how they showed up within each of those pieces. I have learned how much of the work I did coincides with one other and that it doesn’t incorporate just one skill but it implements multiple aspects to better my learning. Especially with the assignments that include elements of production, they are already built to multitask in a way that incorporates writing, collaboration, communicating, public speaking, editing and using equipment. It is fulfilling to be able to provide a body of work that contains one or more of these skills that embodies versatility in each of those skills and having a hand in each area of expertise. Having that type of hands-on learning makes it more understanding to effectively utilize those tools as I officially embark on my career. It is going to be exciting and I do hope I will have the opportunity to build upon those skills even more.