Today at ECI, we had a visit from a 1st year graphic design student from Aberdeen College who is after a work placement over his summer holidays. I don't usually post about these things but I was so impressed with this guy's drive and enthusiasm, I thought I'd share my thoughts a bit.

To be honest, we were a little uncertain about what the guy actually wanted to do so we asked him in for a chat and got him some coffee. From the off, he was personable, interested in who we were and what we are about and wiling to turn his hand to anything that would further his goal of succeeding in the industry, on top of this, we saw potential in his work. We pitched a few ideas at him, got his opinions on several things, passed on some advice and basically got to know him a bit and the result of our chat was that we all liked him and will be offering him a placement with us.

I remember when I was starting out and had a relentless ambition to do what it took to get my foot in the door and prove that I was capable and in some ways he reminded me of myself. Over the years, I've spoken to loads of people just starting out and I always make a point of visiting local degree/end of year shows to see how the current crop are. More often than not I've been a little dissapointed at the lack of ambition and recently at a degree show, one student was more interested in heading off with his mates early than answering a few questions I had about one of his projects. His work was good, however, in my opinion, that's not enough, to make it you have to have a spark about you, a love for your art and a lot of drive. Needless to say when the guy emailed me directly a week later, I didn't reply on this occasion, he'd missed his opportunity this time.

It was refreshing to see the ambition and enthusiasm I thought was non existant from a student today, it resurected my faith in students and I look forward to helping him out as much as I can....well done Leigh.