Coming to MSU was a nerve-racking experience for me since I didn’t like to be away from home. I only live a couple hours away, but I still got home sick easily. After I got settled into my dorm room, I realized I wasn’t homesick. Maybe it was because I knew my sister was a couple of blocks away or maybe it was because I knew I was finally growing up and didn’t need to fully rely on my parents.
Coming here taught me to get out of my comfort zone to try new things. I grew up with majority of my friends and when I came here I panicked. I didn’t really know how to make friends.
Thankfully my RA knocked on my door and invited me to movie night in the lounge. One of my best friends now was there. We actually became friends because she asked if I wanted some cookies. Food brings people together. The cookie question caught another person’s attention.
After making friends, I felt a thousand times better about being at MSU. Then the next worry rose. I was starting my mass communication classes and was worried I wouldn’t be any good at it. I didn’t have any type of experience before coming here. Once again I was thankful I met people quick in the department. It took the worry away.
After a year in the department, I was confident that mass communication was the correct career path for myself. I loved it and everything came easy. School never came easy to me until I got in the mass communication program.
During my second year I learned more camera skills. I loved to see how creative I could get with my filming. I also had to learn to call and schedule meetings with administrators. Being in the media field, you can’t be shy, but it is also a hard thing to break. I will always be shy, until I am comfortable around people.
Going into the summer, I had to do an internship. Interning with Tobin McDuff was a neat learning experience. The one thing I love the most was doing highlight videos of the local high schools. I took what I learned into my final year at MSU.
Some of you may have seen different highlight videos for the men’s soccer team and the football team. I started that because I wanted to keep learning and practicing my skills that I had been learning over the past two years.
I didn’t have a class where I was able to go out and film so I decided to film the games for the teams. I had been dying to learn more about filming sports and how to edit them so I thought, “Why not?”
If you watch footage from the first game I filmed versus the last, you can see a huge difference. I was thankful the coaches and players allowed me to continue to film and improve my skills.
As I graduate this May, I take everything I learned from MSU and continue to take it with me. I will be forever grateful for everyone who has helped me during my three years here.
My advice to other students here: take a look at what MSU teaches you inside the classroom and try to use it outside. I learned that if I take what my teachers taught me and used it now instead of waiting, I can still get help and learn even more.
Harley Warrick is a senior in mass communication.
