If you are a true Colegial, you have probably experienced La Semana de Prepas or “freshman week.” That week is the first-ever college experience you will have once you’ve been admitted into our beautiful alma mater. During this week in August, first-year undergraduate students from all over the island come to get acquainted with our campus, with the student body, in addition to getting a glimpse of just how much their lives are going to change once classes begin.
This year, one prepa, or first-year student, decided to make a video about her experience at La Semana de Prepas. In her video she described every detail about the first day of this week. From the road trip to Mayagüez, to the moment she stepped out of that welcoming speech ready to tackle her college career.
Meet Andrea Carolina. She’s an 18 year-old singer as well as our newest Her Campus UPRM Public Relations (PR) Team member.
Yes, she is a bit of everything.
Andrea is a Marketing major at UPRM and as such, she was interested in being a part of our PR team since high school. “I found out about Her Campus UPRM while I was in high school, I used to read your articles on Facebook. Her Campus was always on my newsfeed.” Aside from her interests in business administration, she is also a very talented singer. Her singing career began around the age of 8 when she first remembers stepping onto a stage. Her passion for singing has taken her on amazing experiences from singing alongside well-known salsa artist, Gilberto Santa Rosa, to being part of the well known band “Popstar The Band.”
Now, Andrea has become a bit of a campus celebrity because of her famous YouTube video titled: “Mi Experiencia Colegial.” However, her fame came with a lot of backlash as well. I decided to talk to her about this video and this is what she had to say.
Why did you decide to make the video?
I was excited to start a new phase in my life because I felt like [this was] the perfect time to grow as an artist. I really didn’t think much of it when I recorded the video, I just put the camera in front of me and kind of let things flow. Everything was so quick, I edited it the same day and uploaded it the next. I expected maybe 2,000 views tops. Everything caught me off guard.
The backlash to the video came after some of her audience thought she had no right to talk about her “college experience” being that she was just a first-year student. This made some people bully her and some went as far as to stalking her on campus.
How did your audience respond to the video? Was it all you expected?
It was not at all how I expected it. At first, the response was so positive and uplifting, but shortly after, the ‘hate comments’ started settling in. But in between the hate comments, I received many beautiful messages and people would even stop me on campus. They would tell me how my video made their day and that’s what helped me keep my head up. That’s all I’ve wanted, to make people laugh and smile with me during my journey.
How did you respond to the hate comments?
I’m not one to fight fire with fire, so I let them comment what they wanted. I even received threats. I know not everyone is going to like everything I post. I’m okay with that, everyone has a right to their opinion. I’m just going to keep doing me, and those who want to join me along the way are welcome to do so.
You mentioned threats, that’s pretty serious, did you ever feel intimidated to walk on campus?
Yes, people who took class with me even gave out my schedule and where they could find me. I was definitely scared on my first week as a collegiate, not at all as excited as I was at first when I posted the video. People would tell me rude remarks while I was walking around campus, but I just shrugged them off. They wanted to start a fight, and I wasn’t going to give them that.
Did you ever think to stop making your videos?
Never. I always knew that at one point, if I were to ever reach my goals, I would receive negative comments on a daily basis. So, in a way, I mentally prepared myself. Plus, I love making videos, why should I ever stop doing something that makes me happy?
Despite all the haters, Andrea will continue to upload her singing videos as well as her vlogs. Her main goal is to be recognized as a successful singer and to market herself and her personality as relatable and approachable.
In this era of social media, behaviors like bullying and harassment often go unpunished because social media has the power to make us think we are detached from our real-world personalities. Sometimes we don’t quite grasp the fact that we can hurt someone in real life through our media platforms with the things we post, share, or comment.
Before you post anything, sit back and evaluate your behavior. The internet would be a safer place if we treated each other with the respect we all deserve.
Connect with Andrea Carolina:
Twitter – @1andreacarolina