By Kristen Scheirman
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Chris Bittner remembers moving from California to Colorado and going through the same process over and over again. Running a comb through his salt and pepper hair, adjusting his tie, shaking hands. Going through interview after interview for audio and visual editing jobs.
Interviews for jobs he wasn’t getting.
That was when he realized he needed that little piece of paper. He needed a college diploma.
“Here it’s much more difficult to find a job in the areas that I’m skilled at,” 41-year-old Bittner said. “I would be turned down for people who appeared to be much less qualified and had no experience because they had a degree. That’s when I realized I need that piece of paper.”
Bittner graduated from high school in 1987 and headed off to Emporia State University in his home state, Kansas. He soon left Emporia and attended a couple of junior colleges. It took him about a year to decide college was not for him.
“Back then I was just so burnt out after high school. I think I went to college because it was what I thought I was supposed to do,” Bittner said.
He bounced around from odd job to odd job for awhile before starting a career in something he had loved since high school; video and audio editing. He attended an Arizona school, Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences for Audio Engineering, and then moved to California and worked as an audio and visual engineer at Independent Film Studios and 20th Century Fox.
Eventually Bittner and his wife, Jill, decided the cost of living in California was too high. Bittner had always wanted to live in “gorgeous” Colorado, so they moved to Loveland about six years ago and began looking into schools so they could get their degrees together.
“We kind of looked around the area at [University of Northern Colorado, University of Colorado, and Colorado State University.] I was just looking for someone who offered a degree program somewhat similar to what I wanted to do,” Bittner said.
He decided the journalism program at CSU most closely matched his interests and is a junior, majoring in journalism with a concentration in computer-mediated communication.
It’s been a crazy experience. Almost like going back in time. In some ways, anyway.
“All of the fashion trends that happened in the 80s are back again,” Bittner said. “It was horrible the first time. Ahh, it’s just ridiculous. I can’t handle it.”
Bittner really isn’t enjoying his college experience. He sees it more as a stepping stone. He has to complete college in order to get a degree in order to get a job.
“I keep having that thought in my head that I should have done this twenty years ago,” Bittner said. “I took all of summer break before I was really itching to get back here and it has taken four weeks for me to just really not want to be here again. I’d rather be out there, making money, doing something where I feel like I’m accomplishing something.”
He is also frustrated because so many of the journalism classes he is taking have nothing to do with what he is interested in. Next year students will be able to pick and choose the classes they want and design their own major. Bittner wishes that had been an option when he first started and is looking at it as a possibility for next year.
Luckily for Bittner, he does have a study buddy for when he needs extra motivation.
He and his wife are even in the same statistics class.
Being a non-traditional student on campus also makes life a little more interesting.
“Some people gravitate towards me because in certain areas I have expertise and they find out about that,” Bittner said. “So in media classes I’ll have people coming to me for help which is great because I enjoy doing it.”
There are a few things Bittner does enjoy about being back at school.
“It’s really nice to be able to go in between classes and get a beer at the Ramskeller,” Bittner said, laughing. “It’s a good thing and a bad thing depending on how much time I have between classes.”
Just three more semesters until he is back doing what he loves. Making people happy.
“Media for entertainment value is something that makes people happy,” Bittner said. “That they enjoy watching or hearing and that just makes their life better for the moment they’re involved in that.”
I liked your story, your headline was great, very descriptive and a great scene setter.
ReplyDeleteIt really deals with the struggles it is to get a job, but we always think about those fresh out of college and how hard it is for them to get a job, but what about those who didn't go to college? So, I think you were able to stress the importance of getting a degree, at any age, its necessary.
Overall, I thought that you did a great job on this story. I agree with J. Tavarez that it was a great scene setter and it was easy to read. I thought it was interesting that he didn't exactly like being at school, it is a cool angle. Most people would expect it to be the kind of story that is about a non-traditional student loving being back in school. The only thing that I might change, would be introducing him as a non-traditional student earlier on in the story. I felt like it took a while to actually find out who this person was or why he was important. Very interesting!
ReplyDelete