Intro to Motivation: A Crash Course on the Endless Possibilities by Toni

Intro to Motivation: A Crash Course on the Endless Possibilities by Toni - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches. -Karl A. Menninger. When thinking of a teacher who I have learned from, this quote explains how that was possible. Because of Dr. Frederick Kendrick, professor in the Media, Journalism and Film department at Howard University, I learned the importance of being a critical thinker, driven and strong.

Myself and roughly 75 other students were in Dr. Kendrick’s Digital Media Literacy course and didn’t know what to expect. The class is a requirement for students in the School of Communications so I assumed it would be a rudimentary class with the usual textbook assignments and class lectures. But after the first day, I knew I was in for an experience. His self-introduction was one that displayed his humor, wit, and dedication to teaching. Whenever students walked in late, he would jokingly ask them to make a random story as to why they were late so they could understand how unimportant their true reason really was. He valued attendance and participation because his method of teaching was discussion based allowing for honest, critical, and unbiased comments to be made. Dr. Kendrick would always choose a topic that was significant to us not only as students, but citizens of the world. One week we talked about how musical lyrics and the accompanying videos affect how we view each other and ourselves.
But it was during one of his last classes of the semester that I received the perception-changing lesson.

Dr. Kendrick has been teaching at Howard for eight years but he previously worked as a morning show producer at numerous television networks in Alabama. With a B.A. in broadcast journalism, M.S. in management, and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication and Media Studies, Dr. Kendrick has a strong and impressive educational background. But he told the class that it was an uphill battle on his journey to becoming a working producer. Many of the students in our class aim to be news broadcasters, journalists and producers but he felt students in today’s world underutilize resources that didn’t exist when he was our age. As a weekly homework assignment we all had to become mini journalists and record 30-second videos of ourselves on our smartphones sharing our opinion on an assigned topic. He did this to show us how easy it is to begin producing your own content and building your brand. But the only thing stopping students from taking advantage of what’s around us is our drive.

The tears he shed as he explained the oftentimes-explicit discrimination he faced as an African American producer, motivated me to begin taking advantage of the opportunities available to me because of trailblazers like Dr. Kendrick. My current internship in the public relations department at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts I owe to this professor. Dr. Kendrick has taught me, through being his true and unapologetic self, how to be the driven and strong person I am today.