JMC Week: Interview with Amal-Sher Kurbanov

October 29, 2013

-- You are a student in the Journalism Department.  Why did you choose AUCA, and why did you enroll as a JMC major?

I chose AUCA because for me this was an opportunity to get a high-class education and an American diploma. After studying here for a year I understood that it's also a place full of friendly people, enthusiastic staff and really great opportunities, which you just need to take advantage of and there won't be any borders for you.

It's an interesting question, why did I choose a JMC major. I think I did it because I like to communicate with people, to tell them something that they didn't know before, to have an opportunity to ask questions that other people afraid to ask and to seek answers to those questions. Journalists are people who have power and who can make our world a better place, so I decided to take an attempt to do that.

 

-- Tell us a little about your department. How JMC department at AUCA differs from other universities?

I don't know about JMC departments at other universities, but I am absolutely sure that our JMC department is the best one, because it gives us just everything that one would need to become a perfect journalist, no matter which sphere of journalism we want to specialize in, whether it's photo-journalism or video (reporting), or writing, or anything else. I think by the end of my study I will be able to do all that perfectly.

 

-- Which sphere of journalism would you like to specialize in? Why?

From my childhood I was particularly interested in taking photos and recording videos, so I chose this field of journalism. I thing that just to describe things with words is not enough, people perceive visual information much better than dry text, also the picture of what is happening as though transfers viewer to the scene and makes him to relive the events and maybe even try to change something.

Here at AUCA I am participating at the AUCA TV club, where I have an opportunity to practice my skills of recording videos and editing them, making news reports, social surveys, some kinds of journalistic investigations and so on.

 

 

--You are participating in AUCA TV project. Tell us a little about it. What kind of projects are you doing in a framework of AUCA TV? Do you like to work on it?

As I've written before, at the AUCA TV I'm doing a lot of interesting things that will be very useful for me in the future. For a year I've learnt so much about video here, I've learnt how to edit videos, I've met so many interesting people and I am continuing it now.

When a person works on something that brings him pleasure - he doesn't feel like working and he does his work really well, so yes, I enjoy working at the AUCA TV.

 

--Have you ever been abroad during some summer schools or internships?

Yes, this summer I've traveled to Seoul, South Korea where I was participating at the "Global Collaborative Summer Program 2013." This is an annual program that gathers students from all around the world to study social sciences like politics or economics, to make friends, and of course to have fun in a very beautiful, interesting, friendly and dynamic city - Seoul. I've got to know about the program from the mail AUCA and almost immediately decided to go there, because firstly it's a perfect opportunity to take two courses and cover credits for my study, and secondly, I have some friends in Korea who insisted on my visiting their country.

I've chosen two courses of politics: "UN and Global Governance" and "Chinese politics" and both were very interesting and cognitive. I had professors from Princeton University and UC Berkeley - world’s most famous schools and I was so proud of it.

I met so many new friends from all over the world there, I got to know about different cultures, I've learnt Korean language (just a little), I got new knowledge about politics and how the world is being governed, I told other people about my own country and the whole Central Asia, so that was an experience that I will never forget.

 

--Tell us about your nearest academic plans.

My plan is not to sit still, but to make as much from my student life as I can, so I will try to participate in different programs to broaden my knowledge and experience, get more friends and maybe to make my own contribution to the world.

 

-- What good advice would you give to students who want to study in the JMC Department?

Be communicative, never give up, read a lot, do a lot, and the whole world will be in your hands!

<< go to news list