(soul music)
- Hi, my name is Ericka.
I am a writing junior and an English major at UC-Berkeley.
Outside of classes I like to be
a weekend editor for The Daily Californian.
(soul music)
A day in my life consists of waking up around noon
'cause most of my classes are in the afternoon.
Yeah for being and English major.
I go to class around until like four.
And then, I'll head over to
The Daily Californian to act as Editor.
- And so, you've been working the summer
at a congresswoman's office, correct?
- Yes.
- I guess, tell us about that.
- I've been interning with Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
And I've interned for a congressman before,
Congressman Adam Schiff.
And I thought it would be really cool to try this out again
when I'm a college student and also, considering
everything that's going on, I thought
it would be important and it would feel like
I was making a difference.
- What got you interested in both politics and journalism?
- I was always interested in English but then also
I definitely knew I had a passion for social justice.
And I didn't want to neglect one or the other.
Which is why I thought a good form of combining the two
would be to take this journalistic approach
but to get more integrated into the community
and figure out what it is that people need
instead of just staying apart like in a bubble.
I thought partaking in this internship would be a good idea.
(hip hop music)
- Cool, so what's this building?
- This is Doe Library, which is
one of our campus' biggest library.
Fun fact, I think there's a legend about Athena
like right above the door.
I think you're supposed to pray to her or look at her
or something, if you want to get a 4.0.
- Have you prayed to her?
- No, I have not.
- Do you have a 4.0?
- I don't (mumbles) but I have a pretty good GPA.
- Well maybe you should, I don't know.
- Yeah.
- You don't need to have a 4.0 (mumbles).
- Yeah.
- Why did you decide to major in English?
- Part of it was, in the seventh grade
my English teacher was amazing.
And she was like, "Oh, you should be an English major."
And I was like, "Okay, I guess."
And it was in the back of my mind.
And then all my English teachers kept saying it.
It was like, "Huh, maybe there's a pattern here."
- There's a thing here, maybe I should do this.
- Yeah.
- What do you think makes
the Berkeley English Department unique?
- I don't know if this is true about other campuses
but there's a lot of emphasis on close reading.
So, there's that.
Also, the graduate students' instructors.
I don't think many other universities have those.
But they're like, amazing.
And they become like your best friends.
So, yeah, that's unique and very helpful.
- Broadly speaking, what are the requirements
for the English Department look like?
- We have to take six elective courses,
in whatever area we like.
We have three survey courses.
The first one is, I believe, Medieval literature
all the way to usually Milton.
The second is, literature in the 1600s to about the 1800s.
And then, the third survey course is
everything from the 1900s and onward.
And we also have a pre-1800s requirement.
I chose to take a class on Arthurian literature
this summer to fulfill that requirement,
which was really fun.
I believe the last class is, oh, Shakespeare.
Yes.
- Gotta get some Shakespeare.
- Of course, classic.
(jazz music)
So, this is the School of Journalism for UC-Berkeley.
- All right, let's go in.
Did you get involved with
The Daily Cal in your freshman year?
- Yes.
Freshman year, first semester.
And I did it because I did journalism in middle school
and high school.
And I had a friend who is a year older than me
and he was like, "Hey, you should join The Daily Cal."
And I was like, "For sure!"
- What would you, I guess, what would you say to
students who wouldn't want to
get involved in student journalism?
- I would definitely say, "Don't be afraid."
I was a little intimidated, I'm not gonna lie, at first.
Because The Daily Cal is such a well established newspaper.
I was like, "Oh, God, how can I, like a little freshman,
get involved?
But it's not intimidating.
Everybody is very welcoming.
It's okay to have no experience.
Just have a passion for writing and
have a passion for trying to figure out what the truth is,
especially in the light of all this
fake news that's happening.
- Right
- So, yeah, just have a passion.
That's all that really matters.
- What advise would you have
for someone who's in high school, who is applying
to schools like UC- Berkeley
and sort of looking at the admissions process?
- Don't get bugged down in the numbers.
Those can be intimidating but if you really think about it
they're not really that, like,
they don't really mean much.
Also, instead of trying to create your interest in
application to try to match whatever you think the school
would like, just pursue your own interest
'cause that will shine through.
Yeah, so, don't ever be scared of freshman year.
- Right.
(jazz music)
- So, if you wanna learn more about
student experiences like mine at schools like UC-Berkeley
click the link below to subscribe.
(jazz music)
- All right, so, give me the seal spiel.
- So, the seal spiel is another one of those legends
that we have at our school.
Is, if you step on the seal then you won't get a 4.0
for that semester, but I'm gonna stick it to the man
and just...
- Yeah, stick it to the man!
They agree!
Whoa oh!
(laughs)
You might not get a 4.0.
- It's okay. (laughs)
- It will be fine.
It will work out.
- 4.0s aren't everything.
- No, well, I won't get a 4.0 either, but it's (mumbles).
- All right.
- Seal spiel, I like that.