By Kevin D. Romine
SAN ANTONIO — Carlos Garza offered Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) students and faculty a lecture he entitled, “Hard Days Ahead. Forging a Focused Mind.” His presentation began at 9:30 a.m. via WebEx to kick off day three of Mass Commference.
Raised in Garland, Texas, Garza earned his bachelor degree in psychology at OLLU and continued his education and earned his Master’s degree at the University of Georgia.
“For me [my pressure] during freshman year was being homesick and away from my family,” Garza said. “I had to really figure out who I wanted to be as a person.”
Garza said that during his freshman year he felt very lonely and sympathizes with other students who may be experiencing similar feelings.
“Years later when you think about those days, you kind of see them in a better light,” Garza said. “During my [freshman year] art appreciation class, I met one of my best friends, who is like a brother to me.”
Garza said it is now hard to imagine life without his friend. Garza also described his apprehension about taking English courses as a second language at OLLU.
“I took English with Dr. Candace Zepeda,” Garza said. “Coming from a Mexican background, I kind of thought I’m not good at English.”
Garza said that Dr. Zepeda encouraged him to do his best and filled him with confidence.
“I started to think, maybe I can succeed in English,” Garza said. “I started to think that maybe I wanted to major in Psychology and minor in English.”
Garza said that one of the first courses he took was the fundamentals of technical writing, taught by Dr. Zepeda. Garza found that the English department was filled with positive people willing to help him and both personally and professionally.
“My memories of fundamental tech writing were that we had to do a service-learning component,” Garza said. “…We had to design a brochure [for the service-learning partner].”
Garza said that the team completed the project and the project gave him an insight to how businesses operate.
Mass Commference was a three-day event sponsored by OLLU and hosted by Public Relations Professor Alexis Arreguin. He was joined by his co-host, Catalina Sanchez. Together they featured several guest lecturers for one-hour seminars focusing on Mass Communication.
To view these lectures visit http://lakefrontollu.com/mass-commference/.
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