John Seager's 30 for 30: Day 24

A Cunning look back of 30 days which have changed my life over the past 30 years

Day 24:  4^th December 2009 – Target achieved (finally)

“Believe it or not, this is the fun part!”

Evening all,

Evening all,

Since the end of 2006, my main goal was to get university finished and start my career as a qualified broadcast journalist. But as you many well know whilst reading my 30 for 30, things never go to plan.

So after returning a second time to Nottingham, I got the finances for my course and i finished it with getting the qualification that i think that i deserve, not just on skill and enthusiasm but on dedication for completing the course after a break of nearly 2 years.

I got my certificate on the 4^th December 2009, but i could’ve had it earlier if i was able to attend the graduation ceremony.

 My certificate - proudest moment in my life so far

Sadly i wasn’t able to attend the graduation ceremony in Nottingham a couple of weeks before. This was due to work commitments on a new job i was working in Exeter over the Christmas period.

But i did make a video message for everyone on the course to see just to day thanks for putting up with me over the past year. It was a shame i didn’t get to meet the people that i have made friends with on the course over the past year.

There were a few differences between the courses over the time i was on the course. Although i did enjoy the input i had from the TV News tutor Chris Hesketh, I felt that the impact i had from Barnie stills stay with me today. It was a shame when i found that he moved onto pastures new before my course started but i wasn’t going to let that change my decision about taking the course.

 Me with the NTU CBJ MATV class of 2008-09

I also felt that although we had a lot of new equipment to play with – NTU had a new building open in 2008 just for the journalism course – I personally prefer working with some of the other students from my first time course rather than the second course. This is because i felt my work was better appreciated from the first group than the second one.

However, socially I felt more bonded with the group from 2008. I was the manager of the infamous CBJ Athletic FC. We were a Uni 6 aside football team which was run and managed by myself with some of the guys from the newspaper course getting heavily involved as well. We only won one game over the 2 seasons – the only win was done by the CBJ famous 5 which i wasn’t one due to reasons beyond my control. I will never forgive myself for missing this game.

With hindsight, i felt that going first time around was the right thing to do and definitely gave me the understanding and the commitment to go back second time around to finish off what i started.

The only problem is now where do i go from here, as in a kindly reminder by my friend and ITV journalist Lee Comley said on my Facebook picture:

“Now the fun bit really begins,”