Introducing: Paula Ninataype

Hello fellow classmates and Professor Josephson,

I am so excited to be a part of this class with all of you this semester. My name is Paula Ninataype. This is my senior year at Weber State, if all goes as planned I'll be finishing up in Spring 2018. I am currently a double major in Public Relations & Advertising as well as in Spanish. I am hoping that once I am a professional in my fiel I will be able to help Latin American businesses strengthen their image in United States as they grow their business. This idea came from a short visit with a PR professional I met when I was in Washington D.C. this summer.

This summer I had the privilege of going to Washington D.C. for the National Association of Black Journalist & National Association of Hispanic Journalist National Convention. At the convention we got news that the new NAHJ student chapter at Weber had been approved. It actually is now the first NAHJ chapter in all of Utah. I was elected to be the first NAHJ president of this new chapter on campus. I am super excited for this new responsibility. For the past two semesters I have also been the Spanish section editor for The Signpost which has been a lot of fun.

My passion for Communications is pretty recent. When I first started at Weber State I was a declared a Psychology major, I had always had a passion for helping people and wanted to see what I could do to help people who were troubled in some way. At that time I was working at a law firm and chose to change my major to Political Science. I remained a Political Science major for the next 4 semesters.

In December 2012 I left school to serve an LDS mission for 18 months in Texas. I learned a lot during those 18 months and with my continued desire to help people I realized the value of communications. I returned home in June 2014 to find myself taking all Communications courses and finally switching my major. Honestly, I feel that majoring in communications was one of the best decisions I've made.

I have a lot of passion still for helping others. It's a characteristic my parents taught me. My parents are both from Peru and they are always finding opportunities to help others. Though we don't have much monetarily there is a lot more to give than that. I am grateful that they taught me that since I was really young. My mom and dad always taught my three siblings and I to give what we had to those in need.

Since the time I was 18 I was a volunteer cub scout leader. I did that up until I was 21. No one forced me to continue I just chose to do so. To help the kids in my Ogden community was enough of a reward for me. Now, years later I see the kids I taught as cub scouts and it is amazing to see how much they have grown, not just grown in age or size but in character also, that is my reward.

Now living in Syracuse I have had an opportunity to work closely with young women ages 12 to 18 at my church. I have been able to teach them in a religious way but because I am closer to their age than the other leaders I have been able to talk to them about the importance of a college education and much more. The rewards of helping others don't always come in a material way. Most often they come after time.