Making Education Work For You

RTÉ news reporter Samantha Libreri knew what she wanted to do long before CAO forms or guidance counsellors came into the equation.

“I had wanted to be a journalist since I was nine, but I didn’t get enough points to do the degree course I wanted in DCU,” she explains. Samantha instead headed for UCD, where she studied English and Sociology. She immediately got involved in both the campus newspaper, the University Observer and the radio station, Belfield FM.
“I had written articles before, but at the Observer I learned many of the skills I needed to become a journalist – how to interview people, how to build up sources to generate my own stories, how to meet deadlines and how to deal with politicians – albeit student politicians!”
Just before sitting her final exams, Samantha successfully applied for the position of editor of the Observer, a full-time paid position requiring a year’s commitment. It was to prove a demanding role, with eighty-hour working weeks and late nights often called for.
“On top of the journalism and editorial decisions I also had to learn very quickly about managing people, secure tens of thousands of euro worth of advertising, deal with the everyday administrative requirements and even clean the office,” Samantha recalls.
The hard work paid off, as the newspaper swept the boards at that year’s Student Media Awards, taking seven prizes in total including Newspaper of the Year and Editor of the Year. The awards opened a lot of doors for Samantha and she was offered a staff job at RTÉ, where she had worked previously as a freelance reporter and a runner.
“Now, when anybody asks me where I studied journalism, I always say ‘The University Observer School of Journalism’ in UCD,” she says. “It’s not an officially recognised course but I think it was the best type of journalism school I could ever have attended. Incidentally, since I’ve graduated not one potential employer, or indeed anyone else, has asked how well I did in my degree – it was 2:1 in case you’re interested!”
When Dave Nevin started his BESS degree in Trinity College, he had no idea where his extra-curricular involvement would eventually lead him. Today, he’s the events and campaigns manger for the education development charity Suas.
Although it’s now a registered charity with 14 full-time staff, the core of what became Suas began in the St. Vincent De Paul society in Trinity just five years ago.
“I just fell into it, to be honest with you,” says Dave. “I moved out of home in second year and my flatmate was involved in the St. Vincent De Paul society. One day he asked me to help out with a charity soccer tournament. I really enjoyed it and it gave me a taste for event management. I met a lot of nice people through it and it just went from there.”
Dave progressed to become fundraising manager of the St. Vincent De Paul society, which in 2002 directed the bulk of its efforts towards raising money for a small charity in Calcutta, India, called Development Action. “A number of people in the society travelled out there that year, to see where the money was being spent and to help out in the schools,” explains Dave.
When they got back, they decided to set up Suas as a separate entity from the St. Vincent De Paul. The society established a volunteer programme, and Dave returned to Calcutta in 2004.
“When I came back, I just kept up contact with Suas,” says Dave. “I had graduated by that stage, so I just helped out in the office whenever I could. I was doing an internship in the Department of Communications, but when my contract finished there I started working with Suas full-time. I’ve been working on their events programme for a year and a half now, doing similar work to what I had done in the St. Vincent De Paul society in college.”
Dave reckons everyone in college should get involved in clubs and societies. “It’s a fantastic experience. Not only does it offer a great social scene, but you pick up so many useful management and interpersonal skills that can certainly add weight to your CV.”
The college radio station is a long-established campus tradition, so much so that several colleges now include radio work as an integral part of broadcasting courses. Q102’s Neil Murray attended Ballyfermot College of Further Education.
“I worked on a station as part of my final assignment in first year,” he says, “We had control of everything, the name, the theme, the style and so on. We had to put in for the temporary license and get everything in order for the BCI, putting together a list of technical items and deciding what audience we were going for.”
During his second year in Ballyfermot, Neil attended an open casting-call for Q102, called ‘Search for a Star’. He successfully made the top five and then secured the approval of the public by winning the text-in vote. Many of his classmates are also active in radio, working on shows like FM104’s Strawberry Alarm Clock and Today FM’s The Last Word.
Another radio voice who got started in college was DJ and guitarist Rob O’Connor from southeast station Beat 102-103, who studied computer science at WIT. He reckons his involvement with the music scene in college was instrumental in securing his current role as presenter of the station’s twice-weekly Irish music show ‘Irish Beats’.
“Being involved in bands and music during college gave me that extra bit of credibility,” he says. “You have time to listen to loads of music and go to loads of gigs in college. I would have gotten to know a lot of people in Beat through playing in bands at that time. If you want to be a music DJ you have to really know your stuff, so you should really immerse yourself in it. College can be a great time to find your niche and develop it.”