The Capstone "experience"

At 3:30 Monday afternoon I presented my final convergence capstone campaign to a room full of media and advertising professionals. By 4:30, as we wrapped up our presentation, I realized I am actually prepared for graduation. For those of you who don't know, a capstone is a class every Mizzou senior has to take before graduation, and is supposed to be the culmination of your college experience, combining all the skills you have learned. My spanish capstone's final project was a 100+ slide powerpoint about the specific linguistic traits Dominican Republic. Totally reasonable and doable.

My convergence capstone, on the other hand, was a different story. My team of five convergence journalism majors prepared two complete advertising campaigns and pitches for two social media websites: www.likeme.net and www.backstagegallery.com. I can't think of a school project I worked harder on and spent more time on while here at Mizzou.

Working on the project throughout the semester, there were times I hated my life. Especially the last week before our presentation, as we scrambled to finalize our campaign and perfect the presentation. But, in the end, the project absolutely served its purpose. As my group taught ourselves how to develop and present a campaign, I realized that I really loved doing it. Presenting in front of our judges and clients was thrilling and the positive feedback we got afterwards could not have been more rewarding. I found myself relying on skills that I had developed both in and out of the classroom: persuasion, working with a group, presenting effectively, passion for a cause and public speaking.

With one week left, I can finally say that I believe in the Capstone experience and it helped me realize I actually am ready for graduation and am excited about the "real world"

Ay, ¡Díos Mío! ¡Mis clases españoles!

Last night, or perhaps more accurately this morning, as a stared blankly at my computer screen, I cursed the day I ever decided to double major in Journalism and Spanish. As I worked on my first of three 6+ page Spanish papers due before I graduate, I was fuming. Why did I decide to do this? It wasn't like I had to do it to graduate. I could have coasted through school, only taking 12 hours each semester starting my junior year. Then I stopped myself.

I decided to double major in Spanish because I love it! In theory, I enjoy speaking in Spanish (constantly and much to the annoyance of my friends and family) and wanted to improve my language skills. PLUS, how baller would it be to be fluent in a foreign language? After spending summer 2008 in Spain, I was ready to drop of college and live there forever. So, at the beginning, majoring in Spanish seemed like a great idea.

Now, in the middle, I hate it. Well, I don't hate Spanish, I just hate all the work. But, I have to remind myself that all that work is going to be worth it. Based on my past experiences, in the end, I am fairly certain that I will be happy I decided to do it. After thinking about this some more I realized, this has a been a constant theme throughout my life.

I look back at my high school swimming experience and see the same pattern. I was ready to be part of a team, exhausted and frustrated in the middle of it (being in the pool two times a day for almost eight hours will take it out of you), and cried when swim season was over. At the risk of sounding cliché, being a part of my high school swim team has made me a stronger, better person. To this day, no matter how exhausted I am, I remember my days in the pool and know that I can make it through anything.

I think that this is more than something that just happens to me, it is a universal pattern in life. With anything that requires extra time and effort, we are excited to start, frustrated in the middle, and exhilarated by the end. As I prepare to graduate, I wonder when I will face this pattern again. Up to this point, there has always been a definite end in sight. Now, an entire future lies ahead of me.

Have you seen this pattern in your life?

What about Cuba?

Last Wednesday afternoon, I called my mom for our daily chat on my walk home from class. Usually, this conversation consists of updates, questions and generally friendly conversation. Today was different.

After our regular salutations, I dove straight into the purpose of my call. "Why didn't you ever tell me about Cuba?" I asked in a slightly heated tone. She, like any normal person, responded, "What are you talking about?"

Without a pause, I continued, "The Balseros, the Marielitos, all the people who died trying to get to America." With other end of the line silent, I began to explain my current distress.

As I was working on a presentation for my Teatro Cubano (Cuban Theater) Spanish class, I was stunned to find that in 1994 thousands died trying to get to America. No one told me! This shock was the culmination of a semester of confusion and frustration academically. Cuba is America's closest island neighbor, but my generation knows nothing about it. We received a spotty, one-sided perspective of the revolution that was skewed by an anti-communist sentiment.

With Cuban relations back in the media spotlight, I have begun to realize I don't know know enough about the country to form any type of educated opinion. This got me to thinking, what else did I miss throughout my 16 year education?

After 12 years in the Johnson County, KS public school system and 4 years at the University of Missouri, I had never really questioned the quality of my education. In fact, I would venture to say that I have received a better education than 95% of Americans and 99.99% of the world.

BUT...I haven't learned everything I needed to. Blue Valley and Mizzou aren't to blame, though. I blame inherent flaws in our education system. We aren't taught recent history. Sure, I know that Bill Clinton ran against Bob Dole sometime in the 90s (I lived in Kansas, remember), but that is about it. My education about US history stopped at around 1980. Plus, even if I had been taught recent US History, I'm not sure I would have gotten the whole story.