MY JOURNEY TO GONZAGA

My journey as a communications scholar and master’s student is one of exploratory nature. I am taking this next step in my career to explore what higher education can offer and what skills need my extra attention. I am also taking this as an opportunity to learn more about myself, what my strengths are and how to utilize them more efficiently. My career as a communications scholar is still in its infancy phase, something I am looking to mature and develop through this program at Gonzaga.

After high school, I went right into a four-year college program for communication design at California State University, Chico in Northern California. The program focused on media design across mass communications platforms. I started with basic writing classes there and a communications theory class where I really launched headfirst into my scholarly journey. It was an interesting but tough class because it was dealing with concepts that were more fluid and not concrete. I had a hard time thinking as a theorist because I tend to absorb information better as facts instead of concepts and theories that are ever changing and adaptive. The visual side of the program came naturally, and I greatly enjoyed the multiple film and television classes, even thriving in the broadcast and radio classes.

While I enjoy writing, I struggled with grasping the concepts behind communication theory, something I was hoping to improve during my undergraduate studies. Now in my graduate studies, I am able to better grasp the theory concepts than during my undergraduate studies. I am a more confident writer and find myself analyzing communication theory in my day-to-day life. I still have room to improve but with the extra exposure in undergrad and in my four years working professionally, I am able to better understand theory and actually enjoyed the class during the graduate program.