A Rite of Passage: From Navigating Uncharted Territories to the Discovery of Self
When 18-year old Samridhi, fresh out of school, first entered the gates of Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) on July 22, 2019, she was excited and hopeful. Having grown up learning the many ways in which college transforms an individual for the better, it was this hope that fuelled her three-year long journey of opportunities, learning and success. A passionate writer, Samridhi will always remember college for the way it broadened her perspective, polished her abilities, and optimised her potential during the most formative years of her life.
In her first year, she dabbled with different societies, etc., at the college level, including the MUN Society, Expressions – the creative writing society, Global Youth India, among others. These were just a few vignettes of LSR that revealed before Samridhi many unexplored vistas.
Samridhi is an empath who believes in serving the community. During her years in college, she spent her evenings at a local NGO, Aarohan, deep within the colonies of Malviya Nagar, teaching and interacting with economically underprivileged children.
College for her was always a field of exploration and self-discovery. In her second semester, she participated in LSR-MUN 2020, winning her first ever High Commendation award at the inter-college level. This acclaim proved to be a turning point in her life, motivating her deeply.
During the pandemic, her virtual interactions with her mentors helped her delve deep into a wide range of subjects, including law, policy and politics. She would spend endless hours studying her evolving areas of interest and soon received her first internship opportunities in writing and research.
She fondly remembers the role of her professors in encouraging her to take initiative and cross the horizon. Constant motivation in classes and beyond helped transform her pandemic-struck undergraduate years into a productive enterprise.
Samridhi recalls a presentation on the topic ‘Visual Perspective’ that she had prepared in Broadcast Media, a paper taken by Dr. Vartika Nanda in her second year. Her efforts on the same yielded an extremely positive feedback which pushed her to try her hand at different avenues within the broad journalistic field, even when they cut across her usual areas of interest. She found this interactive learning process both enthralling and enriching.
By the end of the second year, Samridhi was chosen the Editor-in-Chief (Content) of the department’s annual publication, ‘CounterTalk’, which provided her rigorous insight into the world of print publication. She mentored 30+ students realising the vision of the theme, ‘The Digital War on Information’, through her editorial and visual proficiency. She also hosted a workshop conducted by one of her seniors for all three years of the department, facilitating the final release of CounterTalk-2021.
In her final year, Samridhi, along with her classmates, conducted a survey under the guidance of Dr. Nanda, analysing the role of media in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, as the co-head of the maiden season of the ‘Media Research Cell’ (MRC), established by Dr. Nanda in July 2021, she oversaw the publication of three newsletters prepared by the team collectively. MRC helped her interact with the many talented students of the department. Over more than one year of its active functioning, MRC has helped both the coordinators and the hard-working team-members gain hands-on experience at blogging and research, content writing an editing, video production, graphic designing, social media marketing, etc. The Cell transformed Samridhi into a leader, a manager, and an individual with foresight. She describes her time with MRC as one of her best experiences in college. She also co-delivered an intensive but engaging lecture on ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ to the students of the department.
The reopening of DU in February 2022, when she was in her final semester, helped anchor more profound student-teacher interaction and collaborative learning. Back physically in college, Samridhi found the assignments, both inside and outside the classroom eye-opening, not just academically but also in the more professional and practical sense. As a part of one of her assignments in New Media, Samridhi participated in the digital campaign on cyber-safety, ‘Cyber Savdhaan’. The highly-successful campaign pushed her and the entire team to learn the many ropes of digital communication, campaign planning and execution, and drove home the ideal of engagement for a cause.
Her overall experience at the Department of Journalism, LSR, can be defined as one full of consistent growth, unique epiphanies, reflection and action. As she steps into newer echelons, Samridhi will forever be indebted to the college, her professors, and peers, for equipping and empowering her for the next set of adventures awaiting in her journey called life.
(This article is a part of the Media Research Cell, established by Dr. Vartika Nanda in 2021.)
Written By:-
Manisha Kumari
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