Narrative Through Multimedia

I remember myself talking about UP Open University with my classmates before we graduate in senior high. At the back of my mind, I was thinking that if I was a student there, my grades would be higher and the study environment was less stress — and right now, I'm a student at University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU). It was true that it was less stress compared to the traditional classroom and all your requirements can be finished early without having to wait to your 'other classmates' who are not coping up with the class discussions so the class will need to 'adjust' just for them. In UPOU, you will learn to manage your time well and submit your requirements early. I always have been a latecomer ever since kinder garden even up to senior high, good thing UPOU taught me well. All my bad habits were starting to change. Mañana habit, pessimistic, everything was starting to feel good through the help of UPOU and of course, reading the daily words of God, the Bible.

I never knew that I would end up going to study here at UPOU. My dream course was B.A. Architecture but after a few failed entrance exams. In the end, I realized that that dream 'course' was just actually fulfilling my childhood dream, not my 'actual' dream. There are scholarships offer from here and there but I lose my interest in my dream course. It's amazing that God put you into a difficult path for you to realize that there's more than what you can imagine, there's more than what you think you deserve. Studying here at UPOU with the course of B.A. Multimedia Studies is life changing. I chose this course because this was the most applicable to my skills, knowledge and interest. Aside from my love of learning of another language, technologies was always been part of my life. Because of my course, I learned a lot of things from my mistakes such as the MMS 100 Peer review where I got a failure grade of 40.00. I realized that this mistake, although incidental, was a way of God's discipline. Through this lesson, I've learned to accept failures as a form of discipline and a lesson to improve more of myself and a guiding path for what lies ahead of me. I will accept wholeheartedly my imperfections to be better and stronger, and with this, I know I will do greater things throughout my life.

My plan for now is to manage my time. I want to utilize all of my time into something useful. This means that while I'm studying and completing all of my due requirements, I'm learning and gaining experience for my future. Such as attending to different classes, workshops, organizations and even applying for a part-time job so that after I graduated I have enough knowledge and experience more than an average undergraduate student has. Other than that, I also want to improve my physical and mental well-being by removing my bad habits and use my time my into something more useful such as eating healthy foods, exercising, praying, and improving my overall self in general. I want to discover more of myself through my solicitude and at the same time, face the realities of a young adult life. This is what I most likely envision myself for now — to make mistakes, learn from it and improve myself.

"Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails."

After learning from my past, it's not bad to plan ahead of your future and dream hard. However, I believed that what I should do right now is not just to focus on 'dreaming hard' but also focus more on the realities of the present for my future by taking action to it. Proverbs 19:21 made me realized that I made the right decision on not taking my dream course out of my childhood dream. I thank God for this realization. Right now, my goal after graduating is, of course, to get a convenient job near my home that also applies with my skills, degree, and interest but not necessarily have a nice income because I know, undergraduates normally start at a low paying job at their first time. If given a convenient and a nice paying job, I would accept it. But the most important thing is to gain more experience after I graduate. My multimedia degree will be helpful to my prospective job since my degree offers wide varieties of job opportunities that will depend on my other learning expertise, skills, and knowledge that I acquired from different classes, workshops, and organizations that I've joined during my college years. My overall goal is to learn and improve throughout my life not just with skills and knowledge but also with the right attitude.