Cheers to UP Web Scholar Ma'am Data

Ma'am Data told me this afternoon while we were walking downstairs that she made it to Fulbright Scholarship! Until now, my heart beats with joy whenever I think how she told me. She liked whispered it to me and she said that I am the first to know because I also applied in Fulbright, and she's on her way then to Dean Roland to tell him the great news.

Stolen shot of Ma'am Data while discussing the 

program for our Interactive Broadcasting class.

MY FULBRIGHT APPLICATION
It was through Ma'am Data that I learned about this Fulbright program offered last year wherein I applied but did not make it to the final round of panel interview. (To read my experience and to check some photos during the interview, please click here.) I also asked Ma'am Data to recommend me to the scholarship program since she has been my professor on that semester. She agreed and I read her recommendation for me and it was really touching. Upon knowing the result of my application, I told it to her and shared my experience during the interview. She told me that she is also applying, and I got so excited for her because I already know that she would make it- knowing her research interest, her background, and her recent researches and even her thesis on the web.

NEW MEDIA LITERACY
I believe that our classes with Ma'am Data like our BC 148 (Interactive Broadcasting) and Comm 150 (New Media Culture) have the first of a kind classes in the College of Mass Communication. It is about the recent developments of the Web as applied in broadcasting and in media. Even the some of the topics were not easy to grasp, Ma'am Data makes it easier for us to comprehend better and to apply these terms in our cases. It is because of her why I would like pursue a program or a curriculum study on the new media to be included in the college.

THESIS IT!
It is also because of Ma'am Data and another Fulbright scholar Ma'am Betsy why I am pursuing my present thesis topic. I love these professors and they do inspire me a lot in my studies. Most professors say that when you select a thesis topic, it should be the one topic that you really love and passionate about. In my case, it's not only the topic that I am in love with and passionate about, but also the people who are behind the wonders of this idea. When Ma'am Data cracked the news to me, the second thing that came into my mind is my thesis adviser. Since Ma'am Betsy will not be around next semester due to her Fulbright research grant, Ma'am Data is the nearest adviser I can choose for my topic because online is her forte. So I told her who will be my adviser for my thesis? She said that the scholarship will be on October 2012 and by that time, I hope, I am already done with my thesis and already graduated, too.

Because she's so cool and awesome, like that.

I wish you all the best, Prof. Data Tolentino-Canlas, Ph.D.!