Meet Ronaldo Carcamo, a Sophomore Communication Studies and Spanish double major!
How did you find Communication Studies?
Throughout high school I was always very applied and studious and I felt as if I got along with people, but I always had terrible anxiety about talking to new people or presenting in front of a class. So originally I decided to take Communication Studies to better my interpersonal communication skills and to better my public speaking and presenting.
What do you like most about being a Communication Studies major?
I enjoy how many different skills you learn throughout the variety of Communication courses offered. The professors are intelligent, passionate, and helpful to students, especially when it comes to new concepts that might be brand new to some students. People may think that Communication is just about talking and that it’s simple, but you learn that communication is so much more than just speaking, you learn how to interact with people in ways that you may not have even thought about before.
What is your favorite class?
My favorite Communication Studies class so far had to have been Rhetoric of Digital Media and Civic Life, which went over communication in the digital age, how to carry out a social project, and also taught about the principles of rhetoric and some important rhetorical tropes to keep in mind when speaking, whether between you and one other person or in front of a crowd of people. Another favorite class of mine was Intro to Research Methods because it really pushed me to learn and understand concepts that were once foreign to me, but thanks to the help of Dr. Soliz, who was the instructor of that class, I was successful in learning how to perform data sets and to be able to interpret them in academic articles, which has helped me immensely now in other courses. I enjoyed how it was a Communication Studies class that was applicable to many other classes I take even outside of my Communication Studies Major.
What cool experiences have you had as a student at UNL?
I’ve been a member of MASA (Mexican American Student Association) in the past which was a really fun experience because you meet great people to whom you can relate. In that club we organized events here on campus to raise money for certain causes and we were even given the opportunity to go to leadership conferences. Besides that I’ve been a part of some community engagement projects that I’ve done for some of my courses, such as a voter registration booth we held for the last presidential elections and making a Facebook page in which my group and I tried to create an open and judge free zone where political ideas could be discussed.
What are your plans after you graduate?
Right now I hope to graduate by Spring of 2020 and then find work as a Spanish interpreter or translator, however I’ve still got a long way to go until graduation so I’m going to keep networking and see where my future takes me.
Are you a Communication Studies major? Tell us your story and let us feature you in an upcoming COMM Connections! https://ssp.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3aasXqPkrzPsuqN