By Isabelle Johnson

 

Wake-up call

 

It’s been a dramatic week.

 

We are all shaken by the fact that we are having to say goodbye to our fellow Sca-er and good friend Matt. His departure has been a blow for everyone and we are all going to feel strange in his absence.

 

Despite offers to sell our talents to ECDs, to all donate blood as a metaphor that we are all blood and even a suggested coup where we would strike from our brief this week, we couldn’t do anything to prevent the inevitable. 

 

I respect Marc’s choice. It has felt like a wake-up call. It has shown me that I shouldn’t take my place at SCA for granted.

 

It is easy to allow yourself to begin to feel unsettled here. There is no denying SCA is like a pressure cooker. 

 

At times I’ve allowed myself to question Marc’s weird and wonderful methods. I’ve given in to my inner cynic. I have questioned whether I am only here for my money. I’ve even questioned whether I should’ve picked Watford. But this mindset is pointless and if I were to let it go any further it would be damaging to how I feel and perform day-to-day at the school.

 

There have been times where it has felt like we are subjected to deliberate mind games that are supposed to unsettle us and make us panic.

 

I have tried to remember that the purpose behind SCA is to get you in gear for agency life. But the artificiality of enforced deadlines and panic around briefs that aren’t live has at times lead me to question what is real and what is fake. With everything that is thrown our way, how are we supposed to know what is important and what to prioritise?

 

It can seem overwhelming and it can begin to bend your mind. 

 

I’ve asked myself this point in reflection slides. If these don’t go into our portfolios, why should we bother? But if I don’t give my all to a slide, what I would deem as low on my priority list compared to a live brief could be misconstrued. And if I don’t give everything to a scab, it is still going out for the industry to see.

 

Marc is creating a culture. And with Matt’s departure and our efforts to save this from happening, I’ve now realised the strength of this culture. If we didn’t finish the week with our reflection slides, we wouldn’t have the same camaraderie and care for one another. And if we didn’t do scabs, we wouldn’t feel as much a part of something.

 

So I need to stop questioning. 

 

The mind games aren’t going to stop. We need to learn to keep ourselves in check and remember the end goal and have faith in the system. And there’s no avoiding the fact that things are going to piss us off at times.

 

At the beginning of term, Rob Mac told us about the metaphysical journeys that we would experience this year. What bullshit, I thought to myself. But now I get it.

 

We are all lucky to be here.

 

And I wish Matt luck every bit of luck in what comes next.