Anaya Steward
Computer Science
Media, Self, and Society
asteward@terpmail.umd.edu
My Purpose
As a child, I would say I always had free access to all types of media. I’ve seen platforms evolve and go from simply a way to spread information or stay connected to becoming an essential part of today’s activism and political climate. Media is more relevant than ever now, which is why I’m excited to be apart of College Park’s Media Scholars and learn ways to use media to make a difference in the world. Not only that, but I’m excited to learn ways to navigate the world of media as well necuase as we know there’s a lot of misinformation in the world lately so it is more important than ever to understand how to see through misinformation and bias even in somewhat “reliable” sources.
As a computer science major aswell I’m hoping to be able to use what I’m learning in scholars and incorporate it into the skills I’m learning in my major. Media and computer science are in some ways related I would say so I think being in media scholars will be extremely beneficial to me in the long run. I can’t wait to learn more ways to apply the skills I’m learning to real life situations.
(11/15/20)
Assignment 1:
Gen Z Guide to Voting
Not only was this a fun assignment to put together, but it also helped me learn about my own options for voting in the state of Maryland that I had not known about myself. So if this didn't help anyone it at least was a significant learning experience for me.
Assignment 2:
Gen Z's Impact
This essay was extremely fascinating to write because in the process of writing it, I learned things about my generation that I had not previously known. It made me feel extremely confident on the impact my generation could have on the world in the next coming years. Especially seeing how Gen Z has been using media to their advantage was extremely motivating and inspiring.
Assignment 3:
Spotting Fake Profiles
For our Media Literacy Outreach Project, Evyenia Zoulis and I worked together to create a powerpoint talking about how to spot fake accounts on social media and what to do about it.
The Traditional College Experience
Photo of me, Emment, Caleb, Evyenia, Akshay, Maddie, Isy, Josie, Lauren, and Ami outside of the Cambridge Community (9/5/20)
Picture of Akshay taking a picture of me as we take the elevator at the metro station (10/17/20)
Picture of me, Akshay, Caleb, Evyenia, Maddie, Emment, Brandon, Eli, and Josie at the Zoo in DC (10/17/20)
Picture of Ami sitting on the floor of the hallway in Cumberland (11/4/20)
Isy taking a study break on the floor in one of the Cumberland lounges (11/5/20)
Ami cooking brussel sprouts (11/21/20)
Emment making mash potatoes (11/21/20)
Maddie watching her Computer Science Lecture in the lounge while everyone cooks (11/21/20)
Everyone sitting at the table for Friendsgiving (11/21/20)
When I told people I was staying on campus during a pandemic, they were concerned for two reasons. One of them being the obvious issue of COVID-19, the second being the “traditional college experience”. Due to restrictions, I would be missing out on so much. They wondered how I would make friends, how would I find safe opportunities to go out with friends, what fun could I have on a locked-down campus? Their concerns were my concerns for the longest time. However, once I got on campus, I found making friends was easy thanks to the scholars’ living and learning program. During the first week, I found a friend group that would stay with me throughout the entire semester (1st photo), and we committed to making our college experience the best it could be during the pandemic. We found opportunities to take advantage of UMD’s close proximity to DC and spent a small portion of our day going to the Zoo (2nd & 3rd photo). We studied together on the nights we had assignments due. I can’t count how many nights we spent sitting on the floor in the halls or lounges (4th photo) with our laptops and notebooks, cheering each other on as we worked on separate assignments. Some study sessions were tougher than others obviously (5th photo). Then Thanksgiving came around and we were told we couldn’t go home for the semester. So, since we couldn’t spend the holiday with our real families, we settled for spending the holiday with our scholars family. A non-traditional celebration that consisted of cooking (6th and 7th photo) and catching up on our lectures for other classes (8th photo). In the end, it worked out and we had a very non-traditional traditional Thanksgiving (9th photo). And I guess you could say the same about our first semester. Although there was a lot we missed out on due to COVID-19, we still got the very traditional experience of making friends from different backgrounds and walks of life, thanks to Media Scholars.