Sean swaps rock ‘n’ roll for teaching multimedia
01 April 2003
Sean Norrey.
Sean Norrey from Glenroy left high school early to pursue a career in music, but now he is back in education, not only gaining a diploma in multimedia but also teaching the subject to other students.
Sean enrolled at Kangan Batman TAFE to gain the Diploma of Multimedia as he felt that music, although his passion, was not the best in terms of a steady income. That decision has proven extremely rewarding. He has been named Kangan Batman TAFE’s Student of the Year, and has won the Gold Medallion for best student in the Business Group.
After finishing his diploma with outstanding results, he was offered a job at Kangan Batman TAFE teaching multimedia and programming to other students undertaking their Diploma of Multimedia.
For the past seven years, Sean has been conducting guitar lessons from home. He has taught people of all ages, from seven to 74 and now teaches music at a primary school in Essendon. For him, teaching comes naturally and he enjoys imparting the knowledge he has gained to others.
“I dropped out of school in Year 11 to become a rock star, but that didn’t work out. Teaching has become a new career change that I thoroughly enjoy and is where I see a large part of my future,” says Sean.
Sean’s Diploma of Multimedia is proving rewarding in many other ways. Along with two other multimedia students, Sean has started a small multimedia business called Dart. He feels the business is strengthened by the skills of all combined.
“The diploma has given us all the knowledge we need to start a multimedia business. Even though we are just starting out, the feedback and interest we have received is very rewarding.”
“My business partners are both ex-students of Kangan Batman TAFE. In the last year of our diploma, we realised that we each possess unique skills that can help us with running our own business. If I’m not as good in one area, one of the others might be exceptional in it and vice versa and that is the strength of our business,” says Sean.
For the time being, Sean is content with all the options he feels he now has after finishing his diploma. However, he feels the diploma encompasses so much and can lead to many different paths which he may wish to pursue sometime in the future.
“Right now I feel that I have a good balance. I teach music part-time and teach multimedia part-time and whatever time is left over, I devote to my business. The Diploma of Multimedia has given me the option that if I want to further my education in the field later on, I can do so.”
Kangan Batman TAFE has 24,000 students across its six campuses in Broadmeadows, Moreland, Richmond, Coburg, Avondale Heights and Essendon.
Each year in May, Kangan Batman TAFE conducts two graduation ceremonies at the Moonee Valley Racecourse to accommodate all of its graduates and award winning students.
The first ceremony, at which Sean will receive his award, will be held on Friday 2 May. The Hume City Council is the major sponsor of the ceremony, while Broadmeadows Town Centre is the supporting sponsor.
Sean Norrey has won the following awards:
- Student of the Year
- Gold Medallion – Business Group
- Silver Medallion – Information Technology and Multimedia
- Outstanding Achievement – Diploma of Multimedia
