Friday, December 7, 2012

Media Studies, Journalism, Digital Arts: A First Year's Perspective

Hello everyone! Guess what? I have officially survived my first semester of classes at Saint Michael's! I still have three finals to take and one to write before I head home to Massachusetts, but classes are over! Yipee!

So I thought I would take a few minutes to talk about my major. I started out this year as a Psychology major, but decided to change in late September. I had an absolutely amazing Psychology class this semester with Professor Adams, and I learned a lot. One of the things I learned was that I did not want to be a Psych major anymore! One of the benefits of the liberal arts curriculum is that we're able to take classes in lots of different areas, and I am glad I got to take my Psych class.

Luckily, I knew exactly where I belonged: Media Studies, Journalism, Digital Arts (aka MJD). I took one MJD class this semester: Media Revolutions, which is the first class you take in the major. Media Revolutions has been a great class. I took it with Professor Griffiths, who has a lot of experience in journalism as she has worked for The Associated Press (Want to learn more about her? Check out her page on the SMC website!). She ran the class in a discussion style, which I really enjoyed. Every week, we tackled a different chapter on some form of media... from newspapers to radio to the internet! It's really important to examine all of the forms of media we consume, especially if we want to work in the media.

Next semester, I will be taking another MJD course, Digital Media: Art, Culture, and Theory. It's about using programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver and the digital revolution. I am really excited about learning the programs.

When I tell people that I am an MJD major, they usually ask me what newspaper or magazine I want to write for, but to be honest, I do not know exactly what I want to do yet- and that's completely okay! MJD is a really broad major because it prepares you for so many things. Some MJD majors I know are interested in public relations, social media marketing, journalism, photojournalism, and making documentaries. These all fall under the umbrella of MJD!

A few weeks ago, I met with someone in the Career Counseling Office to talk about the chance of getting an internship over the summer. While the "big" internships for major news stations are usually reserved for upperclassmen, I will be looking to get some experience this summer at the weekly, local newspapers near my house.

If you would like to read more about the MJD major from someone with a little more experience, check out a sophomore's perspective on Juliana's blog or a senior's perspective on Gabbi's blog!

And if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

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