Results Day
Today I achieved a first class BSc (hons) degree in Music Technology & Audio Systems from Huddersfield University… And I could not be more proud. Those who know me know that I’m not a particularly confident person and (at- least try not to be) too boastful, but after the work I’ve put in over the past two years and the things I’ve accomplished personally I could not be any prouder of what I’ve achieved.
So let’s back up a little. From 2005 to 2010 I was in Secondary school; and I saw myself as an average achiever with a low tolerance for work. For the most part I would set myself a target of a B-grade, do the work, get the grade and carry on playing games, messing about or anything that didn’t involve doing more work. I realise that for some people a B can be seen as a particularly high grade but the point is that I knew I could aim higher; I knew that I could achieve more if I put my mind to it – But I didn’t. I finished secondary school with 9 B’s and 3 C’s. Not bad. Nothing to be proud of and for me it was decisively average. I got out, what I had put in.
Having engrained this work ethic into my academic consciousness I started college with the same approach. Aim for B’s, get B’s and still have plenty of time to hang out with friends, play games, and know that I could do more if I put my mind to it. Similarly, I finished college with A, B, C – Just enough to scrape into Huddersfield University.
Now I’d like to say University is where it all changed; The lights shone brightly into my life and illuminated a path to academic greatness… However, this did not happen. My grades become much more diverse, covering anything from ‘referrals’ to A’s whilst I discovered the wonders of having very little responsibilities, my own money, alcohol and how those three can be combined. Second year brought more of the same however unlike first year; second year counts towards one’s degree. I finished second year with 33% of my degree finished at 64%. Again, a middle-of-the-road B.
Third year was spent on placement at the university as a studio technician, and it was during this year which I found a sense of pride in my work. The work I did, the things I achieved, the students I helped all aided in me growing and finding out wat it meant to have satisfaction in the work I did. And thankfully this attitude continued into my final year of university.
This was the point where things changed. I wanted an A. I knew it was going to be hard, I had made a spreadsheet and I needed to average 72% to achieve my goal. I have no shame in saying I smashed the first term! I successfully averaged above 72% and was on track. Now around the end of the first term my fiancé and I found we were expecting a baby. Unfortunately, due to complications we lost that baby 8-weeks in. Words do not come close to the loss and grief that we felt at that time – and considering I had set myself such a high target all seemed lost. At the beginning of second term we moved away from Huddersfield and back to our home town, I attained a job which had agreed to wait for me to graduate and I was working on an academic paper for publication all while continuing my studies and dealing with our loss. Things were incredibly stressful but I knew my goal still wasn’t out of my reach. I knew that I could do this and this time I wasn’t going to settle for less.
And here we are. Results day 2016 and it’s with genuine pride that I can say I got my First! I think if you sieve through the waffle I’m trying to make a point – Don’t settle for less. If you know you can do more, if you know you’ve got it in you to be more than you are or achieve that higher goal then do it! Do it and take pride in what you’ve managed to accomplish. Don’t settle for any less than you deserve.
Tom x
