To think that four years ago, as a freshman in college, I chose communication and media studies as my major because I had experience in public speaking and knew that media is the future. While Both of these are still reasons that support my decision in learning communication and media studies, my experiences and knowledge in four years of education has expanded far beyond the starting interests I had, going into my college career. I had pushed myself out of my comfort zone making media studies my concentrate because I knew media opens more doors in the understanding of how we communicate in the cyber world. Everything we do within making decisions, enjoying the life we were given, and the people within it, all involves how we communicate with each other. We live in a cyber social world now, which means that the way we communicate has expanded and transformed. I have studied theories on how media affects the way we communicate with each other and how it supports communication within an exponentially growing society.
Media is necessity in our modern world, and yet there is little research on the effects that media has. Knowledge is power, the more we understand the more control we have over the effects. while there are many negatives to media usage that have been theorized and studied, there are many positives that we can enforce by controlling the negatives of media use. I feel more knowledgeable in general learning, political science, relationships of family, friends, and intimate relationships, along with expanded skills in speaking to the general public and large groups. My major has given me the tools to expand my knowledge after school and pursue further education within my major on my own.
Being a social science researcher doesn’t only limit to only human behavior and can support other sciences regarding important issues like cultivation. We not only communicate with words with given meanings, but we also communicate with our expression, our bodies, and proximity. Even depending on the type of media platforms we use, gives different meaning between encoder and decoder.
One of the most wonderful things about my decision to major in communication media studies, is the opportunity of many career options like human resources or public relations. As far as future goals, I want to further my education and work for schools on general physical health and nutrition. I’m working on getting experience in marketing in the meantime because I want to pursue multiple careers. Being in school for 16 years straight, incentivizes the ability to try new things and expand my skills in many areas. St. Norbert college has helped me empower myself becoming a resourceful, innovative character with a drive that exceeds the limitations of a single area of knowledge. Studying at a liberal arts school inspires students like myself to love learning how we work together and for our own personal growth. I plan to take these lessons and this empowering drive with me in these coming years, where I transition from a student to becoming a member of my own community, wherever my career takes me.
