Stephanie Clark
Professor Ensher
Training and Development
April 24, 2017
The Learning Plan of a Millennial
In almost exactly one year from now, I will be graduated from Loyola Marymount University. I’m still trying to pretend that it’s not happening, since I love being in college, but I know that at some point I’m going to have to embrace my future. I’ll miss so many aspects of being in my early twenties as a college student – seeing all my friends on campus, going to college-esque bars, and having professors that care so much about my own personal education and want to see me succeed. While I’ll still be able to see friends from school and go out to those same college-esque bars (probably mistaken as a college student since I still look like I’m 16 years old), I won’t be able to have those same discussions in my classes that really educated me about the world.
This is one aspect of college that I have really treasured – open discussions in which I could learn about so many different viewpoints on current events. From International Business to Finance to even Introduction to Social Media, I have a constant inflow of information about the world. Though I might not be able to have direct conversations about these topics with 25 of my closest classmates, I have recently been thinking about how I plan on educating myself sans college.
As I’ve learned in my Intro to Social Media course, Twitter is the best social media platform to learn about current events. The site is constantly being updated, as Twitter users often “live tweet” events happening around the world every single second. This platform is used for conversations, more so than Facebook, and truly allows you to see viewpoints from different types of demographics since the use of hashtags allows for viewers to see tweets from anyone who is not private. Unlike Facebook, Twitter has a high percentage of public “tweeters” and you can see any of their profiles without having to follow them. Twitter currently has a “Moments” tab, which you can click on to see the latest news articles with threads of discussions below them.
Additionally, I plan on reading the local newspaper of the town I end up living in after graduation, in order to keep myself up to date on the happenings around the area I live. In San Jose, where I was born and raised, my family and I read the San Jose Mercury News. I have also kept up the habit of checking the Wall Street Journal from time to time, thanks to my finance course, to keep myself up to date on all things economy related.
Lastly, I have subscribed to many newspapers and magazines via the News app on my iPhone. I follow stories from CNN, the New York Times, and of course, Cosmopolitan. Even though Cosmo may not keep me fresh on what is happening in the world around me per say, it will definitely keep me updated on the latest style and beauty trends – which to me, is just as important. I am excited at the thought of graduating from LMU into the “real world,” even if I may be terrified as well. One thing I’ve learned from being a college student is that there is so much more out there than we realize, living in this privileged bubble, and it is up to us to remain educated on all.