Oswaldo Avendaño is a 28 year old young man with a degree in Social Communication, with a major in Journalism from the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB). He graduated in 2014 and his last job in Venezuela before migrating was as an anchor and reporter for Globovisión, the only 24-hour news channel in the country. Today he is working in the area of market research and innovation of the Mercado Libre catalogue in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The first meeting that Oswaldo had with the UCAB took place in 2007, the same day he pre-registered. He entered the university motivated by the fact that his Economics degree was considered the best in the country and was recognized as one of the best in Latin America, in addition to the educational financing opportunities and scholarships offered. However, this was not the right career for Oswaldo, so the following year he decided to switch to Social Communications.
I initially chose economics because I had the childish and immature idea of owning a bank and being a millionaire. After a year of studying, I discovered that it wasn’t my thing and I decided to change to another one that would allow me to develop professionally in something I did like: writing and research.
During his years of study, Oswaldo was part of the Protocol team of the Directorate of Culture of the UCAB from 2007 to 2010, and also prepared the subject of Journalism III of the eighth semester in the major of Journalism.
From the time he began his studies in Economics until he finished his degree in Social Communication, Oswaldo benefited from the Work Scholarship program, in which the student works 20 hours a week in some department of the university and is partially or totally exempted from tuition.
From October 2007 to February 2010 approximately I was a work grant from the Department of Culture, as a technical assistant. Later, in March 2010 until April 2013, I was a work grant from CIAP-UCAB in La Castellana and in May 2013 I joined the UCAB payroll as a marketing coordinator in the same instance where I trained as a work grant.
Oswaldo comments that the economic support provided by the university helped him to value his studies and to train as a journalist, observing and learning from the professionals who worked around him.
Working at CIAP-UCAB made me meet professionals who motivated me to emulate their best practices in order to be, as one of those professors said, ‘the best version of myself.
Regarding the contribution to the university’s scholarship fund, Oswaldo urges that we should not stop supporting the country’s future professionals.
If you have the opportunity, donate. There are many people who need financial support, this is a long-term investment where the results will be seen in the impact of the work of the new professional in Venezuela and the rest of the world, because we Ucabists are leaving high the name of our Alma Mater.
