Going Into My Final Year At DMU

I survived a pandemic, a failing abusive relationship, a tory government and lost my house but three years on I am close to wearing those robes and a silly hat.

As a mature student at 26 back in 2019 and deciding to go back to education, I was incredibly anxious. my relationship was ending and I was moving back in with family. However it felt right and now three years later in 2022, I am so glad I made that decision to apply.

I have made some key friends over this time, discovered in-depth knowledge of the movie industry and learnt invaluable tools to add to my journalistic abilities.

Choosing a joint honours degree between Journalism and Film as a neurodivergent person was akin to juggling chainsaws for the best part of four years. Between being out of education for so many years, suffering with my mental health and discovering my ADHD. It was a lot to take on and that was my own challenge to bare.

It all benefits my aspiration to achieve a career within entertainment journalism, the games industry especially. I have been passionate about these aspects of writing and creation since a young age. This degree with DMU has helped me push those goals to become a reality.

It is a difficult question to sum up what I want truly out of my final year and graduation but put simply. To prove myself capable of the challenge I set and get a decent grade is all I can ask. Tutors have helped and sometimes hindered my learning but overall the time I have spent here has been a positive one. Even with the covid-19 pandemic partially ruining my first and second year of studies but that is another topic.

I still have a lot to improve and build upon with myself, such as my feature writing and interview skills but I know it will come with time. I have gained a lot of experience in my review and column writing that I am proud of. Further experience will present itself that I can dive into headfirst. Some of which will be granted during these final seven months of undergrad education. While others will be a continuation of my content creator journey and home study practice. My recent trip to EGX 2022 is something that helped me network and I still need to summarise that experience in a tangible way.

To conclude the point of this blog entry, I want to end up in a position of entry for a long-term career that I can be creative in, have joy within and be proud of.

That graduation is meres months away and all those long nights of study, essay work and creative writing will pay off with. Failing my degree is not something I feel will happen and at least I can say I took the opportunity with no regrets.

My worry is will it be a first or something lower?, only time and hard work will tell.

By John Perry