writer & cartoon-watcher
What are PLOs?
Program Learning Outcomes, or PLOs, are a list of tangible goals that students studying Communication at Santa Clara University are expected to meet by the time they complete their degree.
There are three major PLOs I’ve selected that I feel are best reflected with my portfolio work:
LO3: Analyze how communication maintains power and privilege, relevant to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
LO5: Demonstrate research skills including the ability to formulate research questions, interpret, and evaluate communication research.
LO6: Create oral, visual, or written communication demonstrating an awareness of diverse perspectives, contexts, and/or social identities.
I am acutely aware of the fact that my experiences as a student are informed by the intersection of my many identities. I seek to bring awareness to this fact and to celebrate it in my work. As such, many of my projects as a college student feature a focus on diversity and inclusion (as seen in LO3 and LO6), and I accomplish my analysis on power and privilege through research on many fronts (LO5). Overall, a pursuit for answers about the past and present and hope for the future is the thread that ties these three PLOs together. I want to understand (and share an understanding) of the history of representation in many mediums—as well as campaign for its improvement
The Color-Coded Characterization of Infinity Train
LO5: Demonstrate research skills including the ability to formulate research questions, interpret, and evaluate communication research.
I wrote this essay for a class on Nonverbal Communication (COMM 115A). At the time of taking the course, I had just finished watching the fourth and final season of Cartoon Network anthology series Infinity Train. From the major takeaways of the course, we learned briefly about some of the effects color can have in sending a message. For example, red for urgency, blue for calm, yellow for friendliness. Which color paint a person chooses for their walls will ultimately send a message about that room. Therefore, I chose to combine my interest in animation and communication by using Infinity Train as a case study on color design choices, and the effects those choices have on telling a story. I believe this work is a good example of research skills, since I effectively used sources from multiple disciplines (communication, psychology) to guide and support my study. I also feel this is a successful example of demonstrating an awareness of diverse perspectives, given my use of multiple disciplines to research, as well as my unique combination of communication research with the animation industry.
LO3: Analyze how communication maintains power and privilege, relevant to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Completed in collaboration with fellow student Caitlin Fitter, this short documentary was produced for an introductory digital filmmaking course (COMM 30). We were instructed to create a short documentary film about any social justice topic we wanted to explore, and we decided to take an SCU campus pulse on the concept of personal pronouns. As a queer student myself, this topic was very personal to me, which is why I wanted to ensure we did it justice. I believe this project is a strong showcase of my awareness of diverse social identities, as well as an example of a communication piece promoting a just and humane world. The ultimate message of the documentary: respect people; treat them with kindness.
The Production Assistant
LO6: Create oral, visual, or written communication demonstrating an awareness of diverse perspectives, contexts, and/or social identities.
This short play was the final project for a course on laughter and comedy (CLAS 180). Throughout the quarter, we read classic comic plays from Aristophanes and Plautus, as well as modern communication research on major theories that addressed the question of why humans laugh. Our final task was to write a play in the style of any of the ancient playwrights whose work we had read. As a creative writer, I jumped at the chance to write a comic play, but also at the chance to dissect the work of past masters to really understand (and attempt to replicate) what stylistic idiosyncrasies made them so successful. I based The Production Assistant on the works of Plautus. I believe this project is a good display of awareness of diverse perspectives and contexts, as it showcases my ability to analyze comedy as a communication tool. Additionally, I set my play in 1950s Mexico as a nod to my own Mexican heritage, and my attempt at bringing diverse social identities into the work.
LO6: Create oral, visual, or written communication demonstrating an awareness of diverse perspectives, contexts, and/or social identities.
Completed for an advanced public speaking course (COMM 129B) during the Covid lockdown, this speech is my response to the instruction to create a “TED-inspired talk.” I am a passionate fan of animation, with hopes to someday work in the industry, and therefore decided to present on a topic near and dear to my heart: that animation is for everyone. I believe this speech is a good example of ability to ask research questions, given the way I present box office numbers for different mediums of film. Additionally, my points about diversity both on and off screen, as well as my presentation of different animation genres, showcases an awareness of diverse perspectives and social identities.
Trans Content Engagement and Representation Within Twitter Fandoms
LO3: Analyze how communication maintains power and privilege, relevant to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
LO5: Demonstrate research skills including the ability to formulate research questions, interpret, and evaluate communication research.
The culmination of ten weeks of work for a course on quantitative communication research (COMM 100), I think this paper is a true showcase of mastery of communication research skills. Since we were given the freedom to choose any topic to research, I decided to delve a bit into a niche, and I presented my proposal as a case study on the Our Flag Means Death and Breaking Bad Twitter fandoms—with specific attention to transgender acceptance. As a queer student, I like to create projects that are representative of my own identities, and I like to ask questions that I myself, as a media consumer, would be interested in knowing the answers to. I think this project also shows my growth towards mastery of analyzing structures of power and privilege.