MEDIA, SELF, AND SOCIETY REFLECTION

What My Three Semesters as a Media Scholar Meant to Me

Throughout my entire college experience thus far, I have been a part of the Media, Self, and Society Scholars program. During this time, I have learned a lot about the media and its role in society. This course opened my eyes to how strong of an impact media has in our everyday life and how to be a better producer and consumer of media. Prior to this experience, I had no idea how to tell if something I saw online was true and wasn't aware of how particularly the media is crafted to convey a point. Now, I have learned crucial media literacy skills and can use context clues and other information to figure out the reliability of  content. I also learned to understand the motivation behind content and how that can be impacting the way the media is presented and interpreted. Overall, this program has taught me so much about everything from types of media to politicized content to social media creating to friendship building. I have developed skills and knowledge that will serve me through the rest of my college career and beyond. 

I believe that the media plays a central and important role in our society. Before Scholars, I did not fully understand the reality of media and agenda-setting. The media that is produced and distributed has a direct impact on what the public hears and sees, and therefore, what they talk about. The ability the media has to shape the conversation is unparalleled. Knowing how and why the media is trying to convey certain messages makes one a more informed consumer. Now I know how to not just be a passive consumer, and to take steps to ensure the accuracy of the media I consume. 

As someone who wasn't majoring in something media-related, I wasn't sure if the Media, Self, and Society Scholars program would've helped me in my future career path. However, this class has taught me so many valuable lessons that will stick with me. One important thing I learned was how to make aesthetic and informative infographics. We had to do this for multiple assignments in class, and this is a very critical skill. In fact, I already had to utilize this ability during my internship over the summer. Furthermore, as someone who hopes to work in legal activism, being able to create and distribute these infographics is very important. Outreach is so important in that field, and we learned how to be effective social media content producers during this course.  The Scholars program taught me various skills I will be able to apply to any future career I choose. 

As the semester comes to an end, and so does my time as a Media Scholar, I reflect on my time spent in this program. Coming to campus in a program like Media Scholars helped me make a big school like University of Maryland feel smaller. Living with fellow scholars and having a pre-made community helped ease the transition into college. I'm so happy I had the opportunity to be part of this program and am amazed by how much I got out of it. I'm sad to see it come to an end but I know the lessons and memories will follow me wherever I go.