How THE 182 got me thinking....

To complete my broadcasting degree I needed to take THE 182 or some other class in the speech communication program that sounded more boring than the graduation practice rehearsal scheduled 8 days from tomorrow.

When I walked into THE 182 for the first time nine weeks ago I thought I was going to be miserable. But throughout the course of the term I've grown to appreciate the art of both acting and theater. In fact, I've actually enjoyed memorizing my lines and preparing for my monologue coming up on Monday.

I don't really know how to explain it but I may have a hinch. Enjoying my theater class the last couple of weeks made me think of how else I've changed over these past four years at NCC.

I remember the fall of 2010 vividly unlike most graduating seniors. In high school I hated writing papers and school in general, to be honest. Now I enjoy writing and school almost as much as Twitter and broadcasting sports games (the key word there being almost). But after attending a Chronicle meeting three weeks into the fall term of my freshman I've loved writing more than I could have ever have possibly imagined. 

Another area I've grown in over the past four years is my vocabulary. Now I'm not one of the brighter students here at NCC but I have noticed that my vocabulary has become much more broad and concise over the past four years. Obviously the plethora of broadcasting and English classes I've taken over the past four years have had a lot to do with my increased vocabulary, but I think it's more than that. Specifically, I think my desire to be more aware in today's world changed that too, and for that I decided to read more than I used to, especially articles posted on various social media networks, especially on Twitter. 

I could go into detail about 10-15 more aspects that I've noticed change in myself, but for the sake of it being  6:30 on a Wednesday night during week 10 of my senior year I'm only going to talk about one more. 

That area is my music interests. When I came to North Central I really only enjoyed modern day hip-hop/rap music. But that has changed. 

Now hip-hop/rap has always been my favorite music genre and it always will be but I've also grown to appreciate the hip-hop/rap genre in a broader sense since being in college. In fact, I actually like 90’s hip-hop/rap more than  I like modern hip-hop/rap. 2Pac, NWA and Notorious have had a lot to do with that. But I don't just like hip-hop/rap. Maybe it’s a phase, I don’t know.  

In fact, I've grown to enjoy R&B, alternative, vintage rock, classic rock and punk rock over the last four years too. These were genres I couldn’t stand four years ago and for that I can thank WONC, one of two student-organizations I've been involved with since my freshman year and one of my best friends and current roommate, Matt Meindl. 

WONC has such a great variety of pure rock in its catalog and if you've never tuned into NCC's student run station, WONC/89.1 FM, then all I can say is that you've missed out. As for Meindl, I can honestly say I don't know anyone at this school that knows such a wide range of music genres better than him. His knowledge of the music industry will blow your mind but not nearly as much as his drinking tolerance will and I'm being 100% serious. 

My intentions with this journal entry weren't to focus on me, but more importantly, I wanted you as a reader to think about how you've changed since being college, regardless of how long you've been in it for. I bet if you put some thought into it, you'll realize you've changed a lot.