Celebrating Our New MA Graduates

Alexi Balian, Charlie Falconi, Tim Millson, Neil Whitman, Stephen Young. 

Today was Graduation Day at Bucks New University and our new MAs in Animation made a little piece of animation history.

Our first graduating cohort aren't the first animation MAs in the world, but they are the first to get their MA purely online.

And, despite living in far-flung parts of the world, many came to Bucks for the graduation ceremony, for the chance to wear a robe and a silly hat and - at last! - meet up in person for the first time.

Alexi Balian and Stephen Young came all the way from Canada, and Charlie "Dutch" Falconi came even further - from Sacramento, California.  For myself, Tim Millson and Neil Whitman, all we had to do was catch the train from London - a gentle 45 minute journey on the Chiltern line (they even have free WiFi!) Sydney Padua, Wallace Kariuki and Priyanka Chitnis - you were all here in spirit, if not in the flesh.

High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

Graduation Day itself is something of a formality - you don't actually have to turn up to the ceremony to get your degree.

But today was an opportunity for our students to celebrate their achievement - graduating as Masters of Arts on the world's first online MA in Animation.

And, of course, it was a chance to have a nice lunch in High Wycombe, and stagger off to the local pub afterwards.
 

Graduating this year is our very first animation cohort. I'm proud to say that everyone made it to the finishing line, and everyone passed. A number even got a Distinction or a Merit.

Many congratulations to Stephen Young, Neil Whitman, Sydney Padua, Alexi Balian, Tim Millson, Wallace Kariuki, Priyanka Chitnis, and Charlie "Dutch" Falconi. You are our first graduates, and all now have the right to add the letters "MA" after your names. Well done to you all.

Many others will follow in your footsteps, but you will always be the first.

To find out more about Animation Apprentice, click here for a link to Frequently Asked Questions. To sign up for our next classroom at Animation Apprentice, follow this link.