Student Speakers

Instead of having our usual class all the way in the geological science building, we were able to just go downstairs to the first floor lounge for our class 2 weeks ago. We sat on the comfortable couches and listened to four different students and one fig leader talk about the different classes they were taking in 4 different sequences in the journalism school. I learned new things about each sequence that I had not known before, which made me question which sequence I really wanted to be in. Although at first I set out to do broadcast, after listening to these students now I am between broadcast and convergence because you are able to do all things in convergence instead of concentrating on solely broadcast.
These students were more helpful than professors and TA's because they were only a year or two older than us and they were able to tell us truthfully, which classes they liked and disliked and if they had stuck with their major or if they had switched to another one and why. I really liked what the girl who is in convergence talked about because it made it seem like she was doing a little bit of everything, which got me very interested in this specific sequence. However, when the fig leader, who is in the broadcast sequence started talking about what she was doing and what she had done to get to where she is, I also got very excited and truly wanted to do broadcast. However, at the end when we had the opportunity to listen to the questions other kids had and these upper class men's answers, I was and am still confused on which sequence I believe is the best for me. However, I think this helped me open my eyes and allowed to realize there were other sequences than broadcasting that could grasp my attention and there are other sequences I can do besides broadcasting that still incorporate what I would like to do later on in my life.

Diversity Day

I had done this activity before but it was with new people and a different scenario, which made this activity more interesting. This activity for Diversity Day was fun and it got the entire class talking and involved, which does not happen very often. We had to choose 5 people out of the 10 that survived from a ship wreck to save and allow on the life raft to row to safety. We had to discuss with each other who we saved, why we saved them and what effect these people would have on the rest after they've survived this wreck. For example there was a female who was going to be politically involved in Arizona, a captain who was dying, a father who was a doctor who had been fired for malpractice, his son and 6 other people we had to figure out who to save and who not to save.
At the end after everyone chose personally who to save we had to discuss with the class each person we decided to save and the reason behind it. Many people chose to save the priest because we felt as if it would be "ungodly" to not save a priest who is known for the help he has provided with people in the third world country. We also saved the doctor and his son because we couldn't leave the son by himself and because the doctor would be able to save other people's lives, including the captain's who was bleeding to death at this point. Although our class did not really argue, we disagreed on a few people because of our beliefs and what we have experienced in our past that connected us with a certain character in this situation. After we were done Professor Steffans gave us a speech on diversity, which was very enlightening. He told us about how diverse MU was and how grateful we should be because we have the chance to get to know so many different cultures and ethnicity on campus and we should not take this for granted. This statement is correct and I also believe that our campus is very diverse, which gives us an opportunity to understand and learn about all the different cultures around the world by just simply talking to certain people on our campus.

Resume Writing

A few weeks ago a person from the Student Center came in during our FIG class to teach us how to write a  good resume. She first went through all the things people thought they needed to put into a resume and things that people put it that was really unnecessary. She told us what to put on the top and what type of information was appropriate to put onto our resume that we would distribute to places we wanted to apply for a job at. I took down a lot of notes because not only was this due in our class but this also helped me understand what I need to incorporate in my resume when I want to apply for a real job later on in my life. However, after this was done, we had to make our own resumes and have it revised by people in the Student Center before we handed it in and we also had to get it printed out on real resume paper to make it seem like it was a legitimate resume.
Although at first I thought this was going to be useless and boring I learned many new things in order to make a good resume. For example I learned that after freshman / sophomore year of college, information about what I did in high school and the activities I participated in high school is unnecessary and I should remove it before handing it into an employer. I also learned that it is important to make the resume eye popping and make it interesting because the employer first takes a glance at it and only reads it later on if he or she found in interesting from that single glance. Overall this class was helpful and interesting and I really appreciated this person coming in and teaching us how to write a good resume.