4 months seems like a long time but it went by so fast. It wasn’t easy, though I’m glad I ‘m still breathing. I guess being a Development Communication student or a UP student in general is not supposed to be easy. I slowly got used to looking forward to the end of the week because it meant that I was able to survive another week of pure struggle. But struggle comes with reward, pain comes with happiness, and failures come with lessons. All this pressure has made me a better person. It has given me wisdom to bring with me as I continue my journey in DevCom.
My journey in DevCom has taught me that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was because all my life up to my last days in high school, I was content with what I could do and that led to me thinking that I was good enough, that I no longer needed improvement. I was wrong. DevCom has taught me to come out of my comfort zone. I learned to better exhaust my resources. I was put in a place that pushed me to become a better writer through connections. I learned to connect with people and use those connections as a tool in conveying what I want to impart to the community.
I learned to improvise. Not everything you need you’ll get when it comes to data gathering. Not everything will go your way. Acknowledging road blocks is the first step to conquering them. Data gathering is the most crucial yet challenging part in writing a news story. Imagine writing without having sufficient data. It’s impossible. No matter how hard you try to write clearly and effectively, there will always be lapses when you don’t have the right or sufficient data. I learned this the hard way. Since I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, I thought of choosing a place far from home to conduct my MOS and expert interview. I had a difficult time in gathering data because my time was eaten up by travelling. Plus I couldn’t just go there all the time, I had to plan ahead and room for my schedule. So, I had to persevere. I had to do it even though t was hard. I had to fulfill what was needed to be done. I guess the lesson here is don’t be lazy in gathering your data because it will make or break your article.
I learned to deepen my understanding of my community and explore other communities at the same time. As Development Communication practitioners, it is our duty to help promote community and nation building. This time, I no longer write for myself. This time, I write with the purpose of imparting to the community what they need to know and learning what we need to know about the community in order to foster development. This is why we are taught to use development-oriented topics in our articles. The S.M.A.R.T. objectives should reflect clearly what you want to happen to the community.
Here are the links to my previous and current self ratings:
https://blog6050.home.blog/2019/09/30/writing-is-damn-hard/
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1svKwupbkhoHW9TlIchW_G5BGrCpBfBjX
https://drive.google.com/open?id=10BirLQnJEiX5kZlhdEP8jkdXVItppnH8
BLOG 6050 