Media ePortfolio
Reflection Essay
I always say I’m so glad I chose Media Scholars. For the people, the amazing things I’ve learned, and the great experiences I’ve been given, in and out of the classroom.
The living learning community really saved me my first semester of freshman year. With the pandemic, making lots of friends, or any friends for that matter, seemed like a tough hill to climb. I knew one girl, Zoe Nicholson, before coming to college, because I had met her during the Zoom orientation for Media Scholars. The first week of college, I already had a great group of friends — my fellow Media Scholars on floor 6 of Cumberland Hall. Living together allowed us to work together on Scholars assignments, and even join class together on Zoom — masked up of course. Looking back through my Scholars experience, I’ve changed both as a person and a student. I matured and grew with my friends, and slowly but surely felt comfortable at such a big school. Academically, I became much more confident and skeptical when looking at every type of media around me, which I had never really done before being in Scholars. I would believe a lot of what I saw online, especially on social media. Now I assess all media critically, and I’m excited to teach others how to do that too during my next semester as part of the Media Literacy Outreach team.
Semester 1: One of my final Media Scholars classes of the first semester, on Zoom of course. I was at home at this point in the semester, following the university’s rule that students may not come back to campus after going home for Thanksgiving. Zoom classes seem so far away now as I write this, but the unpredictable future of COVID-19 may put all of us right back on Zoom. Picture taken 12/1/20 in Marshfield, Massachusetts.
Thinking about the program’s full title, Media, Self, and Society, I can clearly see how the media affects myself and our society as a whole. The media plays a large role in my life in many ways. For one, I’m a journalism major, and the media is my homework, my extracurricular activities, and the field I want to go into after college. From day one of my journalism classes, we learned to write journalistically, which means fair, important, and simplistic. We talk about how we have to gain trust of the public who don’t like us or fear us. The Media Scholars class has been very helpful for my major in this way, because we learn to critically analyze media and the news, and it helps me become a better reporter and a better framer of the news. Media also plays a big role in my life as a consumer. I consume media daily: I look through my social media feeds, I read articles from many different news sources, and I watch TV, movies, YouTube videos, you name it. Sometimes I wish media and technology weren’t in my life as much as they are because they can get overwhelming. But I’m glad that Scholars gave me the tools to consume media in the smartest and most ethical way possible. In our society, media is ever prevalent. Some media are loved by the majority of society, like many popular TV shows and songs, but some media divide us, like news coverage. Too many people in our society will blindly consume media, and that’s where the problems start. Once again, I’m glad I’m no longer one of those people.
Semester 2: Me and my fellow Media Scholars on McKeldin Mall on a seasonably warm day right before Spring Break. I had become even better friends with everyone by this point. Everyone is still masked up, even outside, as this was the norm last year. Pictured here: Akshay Bhandari, Brandon Fung, Caleb McClatchey, Emmett Siegel, Ami Makadia, Madeline Olek, myself, Annika Kuchel, and Evyenia Zoulis. Picture taken 03/11/21 in College Park, Maryland.
Just a few weeks ago, when Kyle Rittenhouse was proven guilty, some fellow Media Scholars and I were analyzing how different news organizations framed the jury’s decision.
The Associated Press: https://apnews.com/article/jury-finds-kyle-rittenhouse-not-guilty-in-kenosha-shootings-27f812ba532d65c044617483c915e4de
Fox News: https://www.instagram.com/p/CWd6gB6N9Rs/
The Associated Press released this news story immediately after the Rittenhouse verdict was decided, highlighting this unflattering, yet emotional picture that many other news organizations used, like the New York Times. Fox News on the other hand, immediately posted this picture of Rittenhouse to their Instagram page, showing Rittenhouse smiling and looking proud of himself. These two different pictures put Rittenhouse in very different lights, thus framing the news story in two very different lights. We discussed these photos over break when the verdict was decided, and found the two different framings very interesting.
Being in Scholars has allowed me to make connections with so many great people. Coming from a town that didn’t have much diversity, pretty much everyone I knew had similar backgrounds. But in Scholars, I met so many people who had different backgrounds, upbringings, and values. I met many people who had different ideas than me, and this was quite eye-opening. I was naive to many ideas and thoughts, but seeing how so many people around me, who were so different, could discuss ideas and learn together was wonderful. I’ll never forget my Media Scholars experience, which gave me my first friends, and my first professors whom I formed real relationships with. (12/10/21)
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Semester 3: Me and fellow Media Scholar Emmett Siegel pose with Testudo at the Iowa v. Maryland football game. Actual crowds of people are seen in the background of this photo, unmasked, which is a staple of this semester. We are able to live college life more normally now, like going to football games and meeting Testudo. We’re able to better express our Maryland pride in person, rather than on Zoom! Picture taken 10/1/21 in College Park, Maryland.
Assignment: Class Presentation on applying uses and gratification theory to Netflix
This is my class presentation on applying uses and gratification theory to Netflix. I presented with Erin Burnett, Akshay Bhandari, and Madeline Olek. I chose to highlight this semester three assignment because our group put lots of effort into it and was effective in teaching our classmates. I learned more about my own Netflix account, and how they individualize my account just for me. I also was surprised to see that I used one of the theory’s four needs, surveillance, as a reason to watch many shows and movies.