The first semester of senior year is (finally?) over and I can say that it’s clear that through BlendZ--through having complete autonomy, through encountering the limits of being overly organized, or through learning to put the ME in media-- we’ve all gained immensely from both our struggles and our victories.
But reflection is much cooler when you’re open to multiple perspectives.
Ever called a friend on their nonsense? Ever had someone tell you to put your act together?
We can agree that compliments are easy to listen to, easier even, to give out. What’s more challenging, I think, is to challenge others. What keeps us going, is that it keeps us grounded, even if it may hurt at first. So, through the feedback sessions I've learned to embrace when someone is brave enough to criticize me; it means they care.
Now that I look back into the last four months, I can tell you I’ve given it my all to produce new media, to improve my writing, syntax and grammar skillZ, and have strived to participate and add value to both our business and the people around me.
Still, despite my effort, it was cool to see that there was not an ending line to it; no classmate was afraid to challenge me. What I loved about the sessions is that even the people I’m closest to where thoughtful enough to give detailed constructive criticism rather than jumping into an assumption of a grade “I deserved”. So, with this said, I want to thank my whole class, for being honest and for making me a better person, feedback through feedback, step by step: it’s been an amazing year.
We can agree that compliments are easy to listen to, easier even, to give out. What’s more challenging, I think, is to challenge others. What keeps us going, is that it keeps us grounded, even if it may hurt at first. So, through the feedback sessions I've learned to embrace when someone is brave enough to criticize me; it means they care.
Now that I look back into the last four months, I can tell you I’ve given it my all to produce new media, to improve my writing, syntax and grammar skillZ, and have strived to participate and add value to both our business and the people around me.
Still, despite my effort, it was cool to see that there was not an ending line to it; no classmate was afraid to challenge me. What I loved about the sessions is that even the people I’m closest to where thoughtful enough to give detailed constructive criticism rather than jumping into an assumption of a grade “I deserved”. So, with this said, I want to thank my whole class, for being honest and for making me a better person, feedback through feedback, step by step: it’s been an amazing year.
In English:
I’m a great experimenter; I play; I write as I speak; I’ve got a strong delivery and excited tone. My challenge: to read more texts (I couldn’t agree more). Producing might improve my writing skills as I go, but finding a balance with consumption— reading different books—will expose me to different styles and eventually power me into defining my own. Other comments thrown out were that I should try to mix up my sentence structure, to improve my focus and listening skills in long group conversations and to be more confident with what I write.
In Business:
What stood out to me from the feedback on my business performance was that I should be stricter with my deadlines. It’s not that I haven’t been productive; in fact, my classmates recognized how hard I worked, but sometimes, I set unrealistic time-constraints for myself, and then stress over them. I also have to be more involved in others work, or at least be more open to
showing my attention to the value they’re giving rather than only focusing on what I’m up to. I was happy to see that my class also paid attention to small things I didn’t even have in mind: they said I always went an extra step to giving them helpful and to the point feedback, that my opinion and voice in the class is strong, and that I’m adaptable to change. All of this will be relevant in my future life, college and work, as it is today, so I couldn’t have asked for more helpful insight to my portion of the company. |
In Media:
Ok. Here’s what I loved: being the media director I’ve got a reputation for being innately driven to create new videos, ads, posts, presentations, synthesizing ideas into stories, but instead of giving me a grade from the start, the class did come up with a lot of things that I could improve, encouraging me to use media differently at times.
First, they challenged me to use new technology, because premiere and a bit of Photoshop have been a start, yes, but being active in illustrator and working harder to master Photoshop past its basics should be the next task on my list. They also added that, even if I had started working on it through my POL, I have to separate the pressure of creating media, with media that is unnecessary; I’ve got to find the value in pausing—it doesn’t all have to be fast, color and action to get a point across. If this is what I want to dedicate my career to, I’ve got to find a style that is both strong in the creative and technical aspect, and acting upon the feedback I received will allow me to do so. |