The end of an era...

Today I finished my final lecture, ever - a time for excitement and happiness as well as goodbyes and sadness! Recently my cohort had a "end of year party", and whilst this may seem a little premature for most people on my course as the final deadline of 2nd September still seems a million miles away, it's certainly become the time of goodbyes, and final thoughts and so I thought it might be nice to blog about this.

 

SLT Students at the University of Essex

For me, I have a job and I know where I am going (moving myself down to Somerset may not have been in my 5 year plan but I can safely say I am very excited about the future!), whereas for others this may be a time of finishing university and going into the unknown.  But despite knowing where I will be in just under 4 weeks, this doesn't mean the panic of finishing my course isn't there. 

 

There are so many feelings, including being excited that university is over, and feeling glad that the constant stream of coursework, placement, deadlines and university demands will be over - and I know that throughout the 2 year masters we have all wished this day to come when the deadlines will be no longer!

 

However, none of us quite expected the fear of leaving university behind.  It's become somewhat of a comfortable habit to be stressed, to be busy and to have the security net of wonderful lecturers to guide us when it gets tough.  We know who we are as SLT Students, we have some idea of how we are clinically thanks to placement, but we don't know or yet identify ourselves as SLTs, and maybe that is the fear. 

 

Then come the other things  - How will I still keep on top of evidence base and CPD without the net of university supporting that? Who will become my peers that will support us in times of panic in the real world? and, What challenges will be ahead of us now?

 

Maybe that panic of "am I going to be able to do this?" never truly leaves us.  Maybe the comfort of university, becomes the comfort of our workplace, and just maybe learning for ourselves won't be the worst thing - at least we will be able to tailor our own learning to our passions.

 

So it is at this point that my blog becomes less about my experiences as a SLT student, and more about my experiences as NQP in my first band 5 post - and I can certainly say that fear and panic aside, I cannot wait for this journey to commence!

 

Good luck to my cohort and the journeys that you will all now take, and to any SLT Students reading this, enjoy your time at University - it'll surprise you to know that you'll be sad when it's time to say goodbye!

 

My fabulous MSc cohort