On Wed. Nov 5th Mt. SAC’s communication department hosted “Well-COMM” in room 2030 of the Student Center from 2-4 p.m. with the goal of introducing new students into the world of communication and public speaking.
The event began with a panel of communication professors answering questions given to them by CLS Sandoval who is the co-chair and a professor for the communication department. Aside from Professor Sandoval, the panel also included professors Franklin Reynolds, Sarah Qwan, Roger Willis and Alex Lopez.
The professors shared information about the importance of communication and public speaking with Sandoval, encouraging Mt. SAC students to to embrace public speaking courses as a way to grow personally and professionally.
“They shouldn’t be afraid to take public speaking,” Sandoval said. “We care about our students, and we have ways to help them become more comfortable, more confident, and more competent speakers.”
When it came to planning the event, Sandoval gave credit to her colleague, professor Franklin Reynolds.
“Professor Franklin Reynolds did most of the heavy lifting planning this event, and he had backup plans for everything,” Sandoval said. “We’re public speaking professors so we always have plan A, B, and C when it comes to what we planned for a presentation.”
Professor Arron Fuller spoke during the panel and shared what his reasons were for his involvement, and why he thinks students should take up a communications class.
“All communication courses, but public speaking specifically, helps to equip you with skills not only to effectively communicate what you care about and what you’re thinking about, and help to change people’s minds, and go out and make a difference in the world,” Fuller said. “But also truly to teach you how to listen, pay attention to humans around you, and understand where people are coming from, looking past words to truly understand their motive.”
Professor Fuller also reflected on what went well and what did not go well during the panel discussion like the amount.
“The only thing I can spotlight going wrong was the microphone dying,” Fuller said. “But what really went well is that we had a nice breadth of instructors up there who taught a variety of classes, and we all also teach public speaking. So we were able to bring in a lot of examples and answer questions about what public speaking is for, what communication studies is about, and the lessons we can learn in the classroom and apply outside. I feel like we did that pretty well.”
Students who attended the event were served pizza and spent the time talking about their experiences at the event. One such student is Lynus Manaisala.
“I actually learned there’s a bunch of interesting classes in here,” Manaisala said. “It was very inviting. They were very accommodating. If you had questions, they were there to help you. It was pretty cool, Mananisala said”
Edwin Elias, another student at Mt. SAC didn’t know the event was going on beforehand but found out about it by walking by and asking a question.
“I feel [the event] went really amazing. I didn’t even know this event was happening. I came to Mt. SAC to see a teacher, but as I was walking by, I noticed it. I asked what it was about. They told me and I was like, oh, snap. The way they prepared this event is amazing. It’s so well put together and shows that people care about communication students.”
The event ended with a raffle with many different prizes from gift cards to bluetooth speakers, and students left inspired from the information they learned about the communications departments.
