A Reflection on my Collegiate Career in the Field of Communication + Media Studies
Throughout my past 4 years of education at St. Norbert College, there have been quite a wide variety of learning experiences that I have had. Being a communication major brought with it a very interesting insight into the world that mainly goes unnoticed in our everyday lives. Through my initial classes we looked at how research is conducted on each level in order to gather data to make generalized assumptions about people that would ultimately affect the content that is produced in the media. Some of the more interesting topics to myself though would have to be the intricacies that occur when we communicate with people from other cultures and just how different they can be. In my professional career after college, I will be joining the United States Army as a 2nd Lieutenant and this style of communication will be crucial to my success, or failure, as an officer. This has not only changed the way that I approach certain situations, but it has made me consider going for my master’s degree in the field as well.
Outside of the classroom, I have been able to take the rough topics that I was learning about and apply it to different jobs. I am specializing in the media studies side of the communication discipline, therefore allowing me to effectively operate the Instagram page for my ROTC program. Taking the social scientific approaches to trying to produce the most effective content for what we are trying to accomplish, has not only yielded positive results, but it has also helped the class content make a little more sense as I am a very “hands on” learner. Moving forward with my career in the military, I am expecting to be able to put this degree to immediate use and see the benefits that it brings with it. Whether it is speaking with a foreign partner force, or trying to complete a recruiting assignment for the branch, the skills that have been taught to me here at St. Norbert College will be invaluable in accomplishing my task.