My Spring 2009 TWC Semester in Review
Signing Out,
Erica Taylor
Signing Out,
Erica Taylor
2. Keep to the right: I’m sure some people could tell when I was new to DC since I just didn’t know what I was doing on the Metro. What I quickly found out is that when using the escalators, you must stand to the right. During rush hour, people are in a hurry, trying to get to work or trying to get home. People will not hesitate to tell you to move over, or just blow past you. So to avoid the madness, just stand to the right.
3. Weekly pass: No matter what, using the Metro system will be costly, unless you’re fortunate to have your internship pay for your commute. To help me save money and time, I bought weekly passes. For $39, you get unlimited Metro rides for a full week. Just make sure you keep your pass away from your cell phone or other electronic devices which can deactivate it.
Spring Commencement
Our last day at Grosvenor Towers
“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey
Wishing all the Spring 2009 TWC students the best!
Signing Out,
Erica Taylor
1. volunteering with a social service, educational, or advocacy organization
2. participating in a political campaign or with an agency that encourages electoral participation
3. advocating for public policies on issues of concern to Americans and/or the global community
The Civic Engagement project consists of 4 steps:
Step 1 consisted of an identity wheel that allowed students to reflect on the factors that drive or hinder students to be civically involved. This was assigned before the spring semester began for TWC.
Step 2 was to write an outline to evaluate an organization, their role, the problem and my role.
Step 3 is the actual service involvement
Step 4 is the civic engagement presentations at the end of the semester
In my “Education is a Right” blog, I mentioned I participated in an event where students marched up to Capitol Hill demanding for higher education affordability. As a civic engagement project, my idea was to act as a correspondent for NBC reporting about the event that took place, the United States Student Association organization and the cost of college. I put together a script and a news video package with the producers and editors of NBC. It was a great experience working with NBC, especially getting insight on the routine of a news reporter.
Unfortunately there was an error with the audio while trying to upload to YouTube, but as soon as I can solve the audio problem, I will post the video again.
Once it's up, let me know what you think.
Along the Atlantic City Boardwalk
Next, we went to the Rainforest Cafe. It felt like being in an actual rainforest. The scenery of the trees and sounds of animals and thunderstorms that happen every thirty minutes was pretty cool. It was great and the food was delicious.
The following Monday, the Media and Communication Program was able to visit and tour XM Radio. XM is America’s #1 Satellite Radio Service with over 170 different music, news, talk, entertainment, traffic, weather and play-by-play sports channels. Our tour guide, Ross Herosian, is the College Programs & Outreach Specialist at SIRIUS XM Radio was very helpful in explaining the opportunities that XM Radio has to offer. XM Radio seems like a cool place to intern; I recommend any student interested in radio to give it a try.
Erica
The past couple of weeks have flown by. With little less than a month left, it feels like there are so many important things to get done and accomplish for my internship, class, TWC and for school. Including trying to make my last month in DC an enjoyable and memorable experience with all the friends I’ve made.
Class is still going well. I made an A on my mid-term, so that was great! We have a final project that is due May 7th; those that are graduating are due on an earlier date. For the project we have to research an incident that created ethical issues for the media. Our professor gave us a list to choose from. I’m doing my project on the Richard Jewell and the Olympic Bombing incident. I plan on getting started on that ASAP.
Things have been going okay at my internship. My supervisor gave me a project to do during down time at work. The project I'm working on helps the show put in interview requests and book guests. My supervisor said my project is a big help to the show, so I’m glad I can contribute.
What’s pretty cool is that I’m around and working with the news correspondents that are seen on NBC and MSNBC everyday, such as Tom Costello, Savannah Guthrie, Norah O’Donnell and Chuck Todd just to name a few. I recently, helped Costello with a story he covered about bed bugs for the Today Show. The bedbugs have been a growing problem in hotels, college dorms apartments and houses. So be careful....
Take a look at the finished piece!
I recently had my mid-term assessment with my supervisor. She explained the areas in which I've been doing well, and areas where improvements can be made. I think this new internship is more of a personal challenge to see how much or how far I am willing to go or what I'm willing to give to accomplish my goals. I’m glad I had that assessment with my supervisor. It made me really understand the things I need to improve on and only made me want to work harder.
I think last week was the first time I probably became overwhelmed with everything. As I was preparing summer courses for school with my advisor, I found out that I need even more time before I can graduate, which really threw me for a loop. I felt so much emotion I didn’t know what to do. On top of the assignments and things I had to do for my internship, class, TWC and personally, made it the toughest week here in DC. I had so much on my mind that I would be physically at work, but mentally not there, worried and focused on other things. I felt I got off track and as a result I turned in assignments late and had to reschedule appointments made. I think I was trying to keep a mental note of everything which is very hard to do, because there’s so much to do.
Fortunately, I’ve bounced back from that stressful week. Each day, I am literally making a “things to do” list. Sticking to that list has made it a lot less frustrating and I am able to use my time more wisely in getting things done. I figure that this last month in the program is crunch time and I need to make sure that I stay on top of everything in getting things done in a timely manner for my internship, class, TWC and school. I see it as an experience I can only learn and grow from.
Signing off,
Erica