Liberal Arts; Guest Lecture from Head of BBC
Hey Sunsets
Our cool lecturer often at times here and there invite guest lectures, this time she invited Toyosi Ogunseye, who is the head of British Broadcasting Company (BBC) West Africa. She's based in London, her story is filled with nothing but grace and anointing, oh how blessed is thee. She is a journalist by the way, so I didn't benefit much from her story, other students did because they're majoring in journalism. What she said is what I'm always preaching, that your first degree is not the determining factor of what you're going to be in life. I mean she did Biomedical Sciences in her undergrad, but here she is, an award winning journalist. Anyway I enjoyed her talk, it's always great to get to see life from someone else perspective.
Our lecturer also invited another guest speaker, who are owners of a consultancy firm in communication, I forgot their names but I'll definitely plug in the moment I remember it. They worked with multiple big brands like UN, FNB, BTCL only to name a few. Do you guys still remember the Botswana Life funny adverts! I don't know if I should call them funny, but they were interesting, they're the ones who made them. I'll leave a link at the end so you can view the adverts I'm referring to.
So this semester I decided to take an elective in Public Relations and Advertising. Initially it was not part of the plan, since I anticipated that this semester will be fully packed so there'll be no space for extra modules. I have always wanted to do PR, even at some point I even wished I would've done it as a course, that's what you get when you don't get proper career counselling prior to coming to University. Anyway, somehow I managed to squeeze in PR, and wasn't it the most liberating experience I've ever had!
Semester 7 I was supposed to do four core courses from both of my majors and two optional courses, but somehow I managed to qualify for the Industrial Training course which is offered in the winter semester, it's an optional course from my Public Administration major. This left a space for an extra module for this semester, so I thought instead of doing five modules or taking another optional course why not take an elective. By now you must be confused of what I mean when I'm referring to the word "course" and "module", let's just agree that they mean the same thing and I'll use them interchangeably.
Like I was saying, I thought I should take an elective. How I've always wanted to learn about PR and fascinated by it, I took this as the best opportunity to do it. But something came up, during my time as an undergraduate intern I worked under the department of economic planning, I felt like it's something that I want to pursue and interest me. So I concluded that I'll do Techniques of Planning as an optional course from my Economics major, right. Seems like the Gods were against the whole idea, there was a clash between Planning and PR, I had to choose only one. I went for PR instead, and I replaced Techniques of Planning with International Trade, which showed me flames and a half, doesn't mean I didn't like what I was doing. I don't know, I took International Trade because I once did International Business as an elective, so I thought I'd have it easy and smooth, didn't I fool myself?? That's tea for another day.
Semester 7 I was supposed to do four core courses from both of my majors and two optional courses, but somehow I managed to qualify for the Industrial Training course which is offered in the winter semester, it's an optional course from my Public Administration major. This left a space for an extra module for this semester, so I thought instead of doing five modules or taking another optional course why not take an elective. By now you must be confused of what I mean when I'm referring to the word "course" and "module", let's just agree that they mean the same thing and I'll use them interchangeably.
Like I was saying, I thought I should take an elective. How I've always wanted to learn about PR and fascinated by it, I took this as the best opportunity to do it. But something came up, during my time as an undergraduate intern I worked under the department of economic planning, I felt like it's something that I want to pursue and interest me. So I concluded that I'll do Techniques of Planning as an optional course from my Economics major, right. Seems like the Gods were against the whole idea, there was a clash between Planning and PR, I had to choose only one. I went for PR instead, and I replaced Techniques of Planning with International Trade, which showed me flames and a half, doesn't mean I didn't like what I was doing. I don't know, I took International Trade because I once did International Business as an elective, so I thought I'd have it easy and smooth, didn't I fool myself?? That's tea for another day.
Let me tell you about my experience being a Liberal Art student, if you ask me would I relieve the moment, the answer will definitely be giant YES. I would do it over and over again.
I enrolled late for the class, because I was still struggling to put my affairs in order. First day of class I bumped into my lecturer, and I was the first one to come to class, we talked, well we didn't talk, she talked, by the look of things it looked like they hadn't done much in terms of covering the course content so I didn't miss a lot. At this time of the hour I'm still in denial on whether I should go ahead with this thing or deregister. Anyway like I said, my lecturer was in a rush, she gave me orders, in the mist of everything I told her I only took this class as an elective, I'm a fourth year student from Faculty of Social Sciences. I don't know how that came about, but I blurted it out, and I felt relief. I thought I should get it out of my way, just in case I struggled in class she wouldn't be surprised, but she was okay with it. She just okayed me and left, in a nice way though.
I enrolled late for the class, because I was still struggling to put my affairs in order. First day of class I bumped into my lecturer, and I was the first one to come to class, we talked, well we didn't talk, she talked, by the look of things it looked like they hadn't done much in terms of covering the course content so I didn't miss a lot. At this time of the hour I'm still in denial on whether I should go ahead with this thing or deregister. Anyway like I said, my lecturer was in a rush, she gave me orders, in the mist of everything I told her I only took this class as an elective, I'm a fourth year student from Faculty of Social Sciences. I don't know how that came about, but I blurted it out, and I felt relief. I thought I should get it out of my way, just in case I struggled in class she wouldn't be surprised, but she was okay with it. She just okayed me and left, in a nice way though.
We started by getting course outlines from the lecturer, and she explained the assessment methods for course, right there I was indecisive, I knew that this was going to be a lot for me, I was scared that maybe I'm going to fail the course. But I kept the composure, and focused. Immediately after explaining everything about how everything is going to work out and laying ground rules, she went straight into the course content. At this point I'm overthinking, if I should continue with this or not. Please understand this, I'm not scared because I think the course is difficult and challenging, it's only because of the modes of assessment, plus I feel like this is not for me, I don't belong.
There's something I feel like I should point out, it's important, when I registered for this class, I knew it was a course for second year students right, so I expected to be a little bit older than the kids. I was surprised, in all honesty I was, I got there and found that the class is diversified, there are kids who are 19 or 20 years, and then there are adults, like adults adults, I'm talking about family men and women, they're wives and husbands. They're grown women and men, they even have kids my age, I'm twenty two by the way. I don't know how to explain this for you to get this. There are also students my age, this class is multifaceted, it's diverse, there are guys who once failed and discontinued, came back and decided to pursue a career in Liberal Arts. So I stayed, I thought to myself why not try this, I absolutely have nothing to lose. First day I sat at the front, a grown married man sat next to me. He was vocal about his thoughts, he had a lot to say, he participated in class, I didn't, because I have anxiety due to failure of always failing to articulate myself well.
Anyway, there's this girl, who's very vocal, she's eloquent, she has flow of ideas, it's like she's reading from somewhere except that she's not. It's like she has the answer to everything, which she does. We continue with class, everyone in this class is confident and is not afraid to speak and be heard, that's when I jump in, perfect chance, to participate in class, which is not as bad as I thought. At the end of the class, our lecturer tells us that there's going to be group works so it'll be advisable to choose our group mates now. Right now I'm there, I don't know anyone in this class, nobody knows me, who am I going to work with?
Perfect chance and excuse for me to deregister. Which I didn't, remember that girl who always had an answer to everything and is eloquent, let's give her a name, Nomps. I approach Nomps, I nicely ask her to include me in her group because I know no one here, and she said yes, she is so sweet and kind and beautiful too, you definitely should see her.
Perfect chance and excuse for me to deregister. Which I didn't, remember that girl who always had an answer to everything and is eloquent, let's give her a name, Nomps. I approach Nomps, I nicely ask her to include me in her group because I know no one here, and she said yes, she is so sweet and kind and beautiful too, you definitely should see her.
It's middle of the semester and I love what I'm doing, I'm passing this class with flying colours, I'm sure by now you know that I decided to stay. I love my group members, they're so dedicated and responsible to their schoolwork, they take it so serious, they're heavily invested in their education, but they're also fun and they let loose, I'm just thankful for Nomps for including me in her space. There is Game, she's so cute and tiny and she speaks fast, oh she's so damn confident, I thought I was until I met her. And then there is Angela, like her name she's an angel, she's not afraid to live her truth and express herself, not verbally, but in the way she dress or do her hair and the colour of lipstick she goes for. There's Cynthia, Yaone (might have gotten it wrong) and Owethu. Owethu is from Swaziland, she's soft spoken and I love her body, thick and well built, not really curved but you see an African Mama there. Yaone is such a sweetheart, she joined our group late, I'm assuming she had no group, she's the kind who volunteers to do everything. And Cynthia, just like Owethu she's soft-spoken and pretty too, she is an author, she wrote a book, yeah you got that right, a second year who wrote an entire novel. I've talked about Nomps, her full name is Nompendulo Shabangu, but she speaks perfect Setswana and Zulu, and she's so beautiful, no cap, no lie, hands down, Nomps is beautiful. And I was surprised to find that she is twenty eight years old, I was shook, because she does look young, she's also a true dedicated Christian woman, a proverbs 31 woman. Yes our group is made out of females only, women who are diverse and multifaceted, I couldn't have chosen a better group of people, I've never really liked group work but these young women changed my mindset about the whole thing. We managed to do our presentation and got a whole 92%, yippee.
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| My group mates, from left Nomps, Owethu and Yaone 💞 |
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| A book by Cynthia |
Our cool lecturer often at times here and there invite guest lectures, this time she invited Toyosi Ogunseye, who is the head of British Broadcasting Company (BBC) West Africa. She's based in London, her story is filled with nothing but grace and anointing, oh how blessed is thee. She is a journalist by the way, so I didn't benefit much from her story, other students did because they're majoring in journalism. What she said is what I'm always preaching, that your first degree is not the determining factor of what you're going to be in life. I mean she did Biomedical Sciences in her undergrad, but here she is, an award winning journalist. Anyway I enjoyed her talk, it's always great to get to see life from someone else perspective.
 |
| Me and Toyosi Ogunseye, Head of BBC West Africa |
Our lecturer also invited another guest speaker, who are owners of a consultancy firm in communication, I forgot their names but I'll definitely plug in the moment I remember it. They worked with multiple big brands like UN, FNB, BTCL only to name a few. Do you guys still remember the Botswana Life funny adverts! I don't know if I should call them funny, but they were interesting, they're the ones who made them. I'll leave a link at the end so you can view the adverts I'm referring to.
I almost forgot to talk about the whole class in general, they were lively students and outspoken, and it was a multiracial class too. They were assertive and weren't afraid to speak their mind. I've always wondered what the cool skrr kids with colourful hair and weird clothing were doing in campus, the ones who hanged at the coolest spots in Uni, well they're doing Liberal Arts. Like their choice of study, they're so liberal, they're not afraid to express themselves in whatever way they want. The whole class was using Apple products, even the lecturer, it's like I missed a memo or something. Everyone had MacBooks and latest iPhones, like where do you get the money to start with, being from a rich family is a prerequisite for this class? And they took notes in their computers, then there was me, with an android and a notebook, a pen, writing down. Clearly I missed the memo. And these media students have an entire MacLab in the University, with Apple Computers, dedicated to them only. Wow, they're so spoilt. One last thing is that they discuss almost everything, current trends and celebrity gossip, I still remember we always talked about the trending topics on social media. We do the same thing in Public Administration, but it's different, in Social Sciences we're a bit more strict about what we talk about what we discuss and the likes. While in humanities they're are open to every idea, they follow trends.
What I can say is I'm glad I didn't deregister from that class, I've learnt so much in a space of four months. Plus our lecturer was the sweetest person ever, she is an angel. I've never met someone who carries herself with so much poise and elegance, when you look at her you see grace reflecting in her eyes. I'm not overhyping her, even if I am, she deserves the high praises, she's good at what she does and she does it perfectly. Her name is Patience Mathambo, you can look her up if you want to. Now I can start including in my resume that I have knowledge in Public Relations and Advertising, and the University of Botswana can back me up, how cool is that!!
Thank you for passing by, do keep reading
Links to Botswana Life Adverts made by the agency who gave a lecture at our class;
1. https://m.youtube.com/watch?
v=RJorfNcbzmA
2. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gKnqyPnuPfg
Thank you for passing by, do keep reading
Links to Botswana Life Adverts made by the agency who gave a lecture at our class;
1. https://m.youtube.com/watch?
v=RJorfNcbzmA
2. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gKnqyPnuPfg
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