Matt Riggs who scored a full-time job with West Ham United while still studying for his Sports Journalism degree graduated in July with First Class honours.
Matt juggled his final year dissertation with his full-time editorial internship at the Premier League club, writing for the Hammers’ various publications and producing content for their multi-media platforms, from match day programmes to Snapchat.
But all his hard work has paid off as he graduated with the top grade at the Stadium of Light, during the summer graduation ceremonies, where thousands of students received their degrees from Chancellor Steve Cram.
Matt, has embraced all of the opportunities available to him while studying at Sunderland, and as a result he beat hundreds of other applicants to land the 12-month editorial internship.
“It’s a great feeling to finally graduate, the last couple of months have been hard work, but it’s paid off and I’m really happy with the results.”
It was the 21-year-old’s versatility and experience which landed him the West Ham job, having spent the last two years of his degree juggling his studies alongside his voluntary role as Blyth Spartans' Senior Press Officer, SpartansTV Producer, Radio Northumberland co-commentator and Matchday Magazine Editor.
That knowledge and confidence he has gained while studying at Sunderland was certainly put to good use. Within the first three days of the new job Matt was asked to interview celebrated West Ham players both past and present, including Teddy Sheringham, Trevor Sinclair and Dean Ashton, as part of Captain Mark Noble’s Testimonial game.
Matt, from Hertfordshire, said: “Working with West Ham’s media team is an amazing opportunity and I’ve certainly been thrown in at the deep end in my first week. It was a surreal moment, but also very cool getting a phone call from Teddy Sheringham!
“I could be asked to do anything from writing simple stories for the website to filming and producing video content at first team matches. Thankfully all the extra work I put in at Sunderland, working on the University’s SportsByte website and with Blyth Spartans’ media team for the last two years has given me so much confidence.
“The club is also moving to the Olympic Stadium next season so it’s an exciting time for me to be joining. Hopefully I’ll be able to make an impact over the next 12 months and become a permanent member of staff.”
Matt, a keen tennis and football player himself, says he thoroughly enjoyed working with Blyth Spartans.
Matt said: “I loved every minute of my time at Spartans and I continued my role of Programme Editor until the end of the season. I came to the club aiming to make a real difference to the already brilliant media output and I feel like I have done so, particularly to the Matchday Magazine itself!”