Semester Three Review

Media, Self and Society scholars has been a great experience for the last three semesters of my college career and has given me many opportunities that I am thankful for. Since I have started scholars I have changed tremendously and have gained a lot of knowledge on the media world. Whether it was the simulation games, guest speakers, or in-class activities, scholars has shown me new directions that I can take my goals and how to go about accomplishing them. The part of the program that influenced me the most was the exposure that I received to new forms of media, and being able to distinguish the similarities and differences between different media. For instance, I was able to see how TV production and news/journalism production are not that different and use many of the same strategies to gain viewers. 

 

The name “Media, Self, and Society,” describes how this scholar's program focuses on media and how it affects our personal lives and society. Media has a huge role in society and keeps people connected and entertained. Similarly, I also depend on media and use it to communicate with family and friends, and to entertain myself. Media has changed society heavily and allows the world to be connected in ways that no one thought possible, while spreading content through many. My understanding of media's role in society, over the past three semesters in Media Scholars, has changed immensely. Before entering Media Scholars, I had little knowledge on media in journalism and news, and rather knew more about entertainment media. Now, I have been exposed to many different types of fields within journalism and a lot of the techniques that are used to entertain and attract viewers in this scene. 

 

I am currently a part of the Robert H. Smith Business Program and hope to further delve into the field of business in the music industry. I believe that Media Scholars will help me reach this goal because there is a lot of media in the music industry. In an era with such advanced technology there is bound to be media in almost any job field. In the music industry this can be seen through Spotify, Soundcloud, and even other social networks like Instagram. Musicians, agents, managers, and etc all have to understand media in the music industry in order to succeed. Even though, in Media Scholars, the program did not heavily focus on media in music, it still taught me some important strategies that I can use to succeed in the music industry. As I said before, Media is similar in a lot of ways, no matter the field it is associated with. For instance, we learned a lot about advertisements in Media Scholars, which are also used in the music industry. 

 

Media Scholars has been a great experience and I am very happy that I chose to join it. I really believe that without this experience I would have been a lot less knowledgeable on media and would not be able to make connections between different types of media as well as I do now. I am fortunate that I was given this opportunity and I will take a lot of lessons I learned from this program and use them for the rest of my career and life.