Learning Outcome 5: Personal Leadership

Managing personal resilience to change

In light of being honest in my reflections, I will honestly say this: I am not someone who has ever been very good at dealing with change. To be specific—sudden changes. I've been like this for as long as I can remember, but I never really realised it until everything started changing, especially when I began my time as a student here at Fontys.

I've always been good at hiding it, but I've come to realise there are just so many things changing all at once that I have to learn to deal with the fact that change will always be part of life.

During the semester, I relied heavily on the structure of knowing exactly what to expect every day. I knew where to be, when to be there, and who or what to expect—the same teachers, the same classes, every day of the week. While I do tend to struggle with approaching people I barely know, I usually settle in after a slightly longer adjustment period than most people.

So, when one of my teachers quit during the semester and we ended up getting two different teachers as replacements, I was slightly worried at first. That said, I totally sympathise with why he left—he had a huge workload, and I respect his decision. And, you know what? I needn't have worried, because we got two great teachers in his place. Both are approachable, and it ended up being totally fine.

What I've learned from all this is that I shouldn't let myself worry too much about changes like this. But at the same time, I also need to make sure that if something does happen that bothers me—especially something sudden—I should communicate it as soon as possible. That way, it's less likely to build up and cause me stress. Or at least less stress. Because let's face it, a little bit of stress will always be part of normal life, right?

The Art Department

Usually on Thursdays, we have Development classes in the morning, and the afternoon is set aside for working on projects. But on the 20th of March, we did something completely different, we went to The Art Department.

The Art Department is a festival focused on design in film, animation, and games. It was packed with inspiring concepts and visual work. My absolute favourite was an installation made with LED rings that moved in hypnotising patterns. I could've honestly sat there for hours, just watching and listening to the music they had playing with it. (Click the video I took to see a short clip!) Each sequence had different colours, patterns, and soundscapes, and I loved every part of it.

There were also a bunch of talks and presentations on a wide variety of topics in the design world. On top of that, the venue hosted a large artist alley with stalls from small, independent artists selling everything from prints to trinkets. Naturally, I couldn't leave without getting something. I ended up buying a super cute epoxy keychain with a frog on it and the text "404 Error: Brain Not Found." Very on-brand for someone in IT—and adorable.

As a self-proclaimed bookworm, I also had to visit the pop-up bookstore tucked away in the corner. It was super crowded, so I ended up going back and forth until it quieted down a bit. I eventually found a beginner's guide to Procreate, which covers all the basic tools and even includes small projects and prompts for inspiration.

At the time, I hadn't started with digital art yet. But now, while writing this, I've gotten Procreate and an Apple Pencil, and I've been practicing a lot. I'm even using it in my Project X!

Although the event was a bit overwhelming at times due to the crowd and sensory input (I did end up leaving early), it was a really inspiring experience. I had a great time and would absolutely love to go again next year.

SALVE MUNDI / STUDY ACTIVITIES / INTERNSHIP POSSIBILITIES

I'm a member of the study association Salve Mundi. For just €20 a year, you get access to fun activities and study-related events, which is basically the same price as a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Totally worth it.

The first event I properly joined was a gaming night. After that, I started hanging out in the Salve Mundi room (R10) more often, made some friends, and joined more events, usually if other friends were going too, like ice skating and the classic student parties on Stratum.

More recently, I've been joining study-related activities too, which is kind of the main point of the association. One of the first was a lunch lecture about High Performance Human Machine Interface (HMI) by someone from Simac. Even though it's not exactly my field, it was interesting to learn about something new in a relaxed setting (the free lunch was pretty nice too).

A more recent and really cool event was a company visit to the Defense centre in Vught. We spent a Wednesday afternoon there as a group, took the bus together, and got an introduction to what they do. Turns out, they're a CBRN training centre focused on chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. We got a full tour of the training grounds, and the highlight was climbing onto what I think was a tank for a group photo.

Besides being a fun experience, it might also lead to something more. They mentioned they're always looking for interns and even have media students working there doing video production and content creation for marketing.

I'm not 100% sure yet what I want to do for my internship, but this is definitely one to keep in mind. I plan to look into more companies soon so I can hopefully land a good spot well in advance.

Planning for Future Semesters

During the first semester, I was unsure whether to pursue Software or Media. I eventually chose Media because, at my core, I'm a more creative person, and I felt that the Software track would move at a pace that didn't suit me.

Now, during the second semester, I've learned a lot and had the freedom to explore and express my creativity, which has confirmed for me that I made the right choice.

Of course, I've also started thinking about what I want to do moving forward. While I haven't looked as far ahead as specific jobs yet, I do know that when it comes to choosing future topics, I want to follow what genuinely interests me.

Next semester, I've decided to continue with Media Creation, and after that, I'm considering Game Design. During the presentations about the different topics and how the new semester structure works, it became clear that Media Creation is a better fit for me than something like Front-End Development. While I'm definitely interested in further improving my coding skills, I don't want that to be my main focus. I want to use my creativity to make fun, engaging projects, and Media Creation fits that vision best.

As for why I'm not doing Game Design first: during the topic presentations, it was specifically recommended to do Media Creation first if you're interested in Game Design. It's seen as a good stepping stone. I believe this route will prepare me better and help me build the creative and technical foundation needed. And as a gamer myself, I'm really excited to explore that path.

Student+ Coaching

As the semester went on, I realised (maybe a little late, I must admit) that I do in fact need more help. Taking this step to ask for help was really hard for me, but I reached out to a contact I knew at Student+ by sending an email. I described all the problems I had and was able to schedule an appointment quickly.

During the first appointment, we talked about why I was struggling, what kind of help is available, and what kind of help I personally need. During this appointment, I also asked about the school psychologist because I wanted to know more about each psychologist before I made an actual appointment with any of them.

I got a few tips, and we made another appointment for two weeks later (since the week after we had a few days off). During this, we talked about some of the tips I had implemented in the previous two weeks, and we started talking about next semester. I will be continuing with coaching from Student+. There are a few options when it comes to the kind of support I can get, and we agreed I would think about this during the summer.

We have already made an appointment for September to discuss how to start the semester.

While I was nervous about being vulnerable by asking for help, I’m glad I eventually did. The feeling of having just a little bit of extra support makes me feel less worried about repeating the same cycles again.