I’m thrilled to introduce the SJMC Japan 2024 Team!
Digital Media Innovation Lecturer Sara Shields and I are taking 16 undergraduate students and two graduate students on a content-making tour of Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, in June.
Students will earn credit in two courses, feature writing and mobile storytelling in the outdoors. In the feature writing class, taught by Martinez, students will write daily blog posts, feature stories about Tokyo and Kyoto, profiles about Japanese students they meet and a personal travel essay. In the mobile storytelling class, taught by Shields, students will create posts and reels on Instagram, utilizing multimedia to document the program in Japan.
The two mass communication graduate students are Stephanie Lisette Calderon and Valerie Figueroa, who will each earn graduate course credit in global media systems and global strategic communication practice.
The 16 students are as follows, organized by major:
Advertising: Ivy Murph, Lauren Reid and Abigail Tuttle
Digital Media Innovation: Elise Kadison, Rosey Mendoza, Laura Restrepo Posada and Colton Winters
Electronic Media: Cade Gulley and Kaylie Kruk
International Relations: Elian Reyes
International Studies: Thalia Gomez Patino, Oluwatobi (Tobi) Jaiyeoba and Jasmine Olivo
Mass Communication: Kaitlyn Maurer
Public Relations: Kimberly Garza and Carlota Pulgar
As students finish up classes in the spring semester, we’ll continue our preparations for Japan. We plan to add photos and short bios for each student in late May, and then we’ll have regular daily blog posts during our time in Japan.
Huge shout-out to SJMC Japan 2023 alumni who joined us for two orientation meetings in March and April to share their experiences and tips. They were graduate instructional assistant Jamie Gonzalez, and undergraduate students Brianna Archer, Alaila Coleman, Oli De Los Santos, Maurice Epps, Gabby Fiorenza, Maya Hicks and Sofia Psolka.
Watch for updates on this website and on the class Instagram account: @sjmcjapan.
What an incredible opportunity for you all to go to Japan, we are very excited for each of you! I can not wait to follow your journey. Have a safe and wonderful adventure!