Free Press

Issue date: 12/1/08 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Media Credit: Randy Hazelton

For many students, the looming transition from college to real world is daunting: the need to support oneself, establish a career, pay back student loans and simply stay afloat without the raft that is college frightens. Upon receiving a degree, the excuse of being in college will no longer validate excessive and random drinking, sleeping, eating, or movie-watching.

Despite its horrifying nature, the transition is universal. The following six recent USM alumni serve as examples that you can graduate; and survive.

Joey Turcotte graduated in 2007 with a Media Studies degree and concentration in production and writing.

"I decided I should probably try and get a job before spending another couple semesters on USM's split campus," he said, only a few credits shy of a third concentration.

So, he worked a summer job, one he had worked in years past. He pulled sixty-hour weeks and saved money to pay back his student loans. Six months after graduation, the payment begins. That fall, he quit and devoted all of his time to applying for media related jobs.

"I spent several hours-probably close to 50 or 60-perfecting my DVD portfolio, cover letters and resume," Joey said.

He spent $250 making and shipping his portfolio to fifteen employers. Even after following up with each one, he heard nothing. Eventually, his money began to dwindle. He started working odd jobs, including some sparse freelance video editing and filming. That winter, the company AV Advantage interviewed and hired him as a videographer, editor and technician.

"The months and months I spent looking for a job really show you how competitive this field of work is," he said.

Joey said his USM education was useful and necessary, but that the skills developed in the real world setting were most important.

"This degree is meaningless if you don't continue to progress," he said.

His brother, Steve Turcotte, graduated in 2008 with a Media Studies degree. He is still seeking long-term employment, but has had some freelance success since graduating.

Steve was hired by local filmmaker Betsy Carson to edit her cooking show, "Delicious TV." He interned with her the previous semester and was hired freelance to edit the fourth season of the show. His job was to capture data from the cameras' HD memory cards to a computer and quickly return them to the crew so they could continue shooting. He then organized the clips, chose segments which would be used and created a layout of each episode in the timeline.

Continued...

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