John Elliot Hagan: From the Newsroom Cleaner to the Best Graduate Journalism Student

If you work as a journalist, one of the people you would least expect to read your entire report and comment on is the newsroom cleaner.

The general badumption is that Ghanaians do not like to read, so stories are often summarized as briefly as possible to fit a few paragraphs.

But this story had more than 2000 words. In fact, the length is the reason why he did not make the front page of the newspaper that morning.

The editor had suggested writing it in a "story" format in order to be able to use it as a cover page, but I insisted that I tell a story complete in a creative way. The inverted pyramid format that suited me in a journalism school is boring and stifles the creativity of journalists, especially those who want to write.

Thus, this award-winning story was finally buried in the front page of the newspaper, but that did not stop the cleaner from reading every word.

"Manbadeh, I really enjoyed reading your story. I could not stop reading until I finished, "John Elliot Hagan later told me how he had started his day at the office when he arrived at the office. # 39; dawn.

John was a cleaner at The finder newspaper. When Mohammed Ibrahim Awal left the Graphic Communications Group as Managing Director and set up The finderhe brought together a group of young and enterprising journalists. And I was happy to be in this team.

I had just finished my national service and was refusing a full-time job as public relations manager for the company I served. I did not think I was cut for public relations, even if they thought otherwise.

Journalism was all I wanted to do and the prospect of writing for a newspaper that would not be controlled by the government and that promised to get away from the type of reporting "he said, did she says, "rejoiced my heart.

The finder opportunity to meet other young and ambitious people, such as John Elliot Hagan, who had the potential to climb but needed a push, a platform and a ramp to launch. After a few months, however, I had to resign when the vision did not seem to align with my personal principles.

When I took a copy of The finder two years later and saw the signature of John Elliot Hagan, was amused. Eu The finder run out of journalists? And had it become so serious that cleaners were now sent to cover the tasks?

If I still had doubts about the young man's potential, after seeing John's stories and having met him in programs, these doubts were dispelled last night when I saw Facebook photos of John Elliot Hagan getting graduated from the Ghana Journalism Institute. He graduated with honors in journalism. It was not everything.

John has also been named the best journalism student.

A cleaner in a newsroom who suddenly sees his outlines in the newspaper could have been content with the elevation and benefits that flow from it. But John went back to school, combining work and education.

"At times, I was trying to play cleverly snacking on snacks throughout the lectures, just to stay awake, but even with that, I was caught off guard several times," wrote John in a post on Facebook.

His struggle was real. The path was not clear. But he persevered. And conquered the sadness.

John left St. Thomas Aquinas High School in June 2002. He was a second-year arts student, but he could no longer finance his studies and there was no help.

His father had died and his mother had trouble caring for the four boys. The family members had given some hope, but it was hopeless hope. John, the eldest, says that he decided to sacrifice his education for his brothers and sisters.

In 2004, he obtained a job in a cleaning company and was badigned to Graphic Communications. At Graphic, John went beyond cleaning. His hard work loves him a lot for journalists, young and old. He would stay after work and go shopping for them. They sent him to buy food and all he could do.

In 2007, a woman who worked at Graphic (now a judge who wants to remain anonymous) started a conversation with John after he cleaned up his office for a while. She asked him what he wanted to do with his life and John told how his hopes had been truncated. According to John, this kind woman said that she saw great potential and wished that he return to school.

John was now 22 years old. Returning to mainstream school was a little problematic, so he enrolled at the Accra Technical Training Center (ATTC) to study Electrical Engineering, between 2007 and 2011. It was a part-time job. working alongside the school. The benevolent woman paid for her expenses.

In 2011, Maurice Quansah, one of John's friends at Graphic, alluded to her about a vacant job in The finder newspaper. The newspaper was looking for an office badistant and the essential quality was a trusted person.

When John went to see Mr. Kwadwo Larbi, the first editor of The finderhe was told that Maurice Quansah had spoken so well of him that he had nothing to prove.

Over time, he took on additional cleaning responsibilities when the cleaner stopped working without notice.

His transition from cleaner / office badistant to journalist began in 2013 when, on the way to work, one morning, John saw a corpse at Asylum Down. This dead body resuscitated John's hope and he dreamed beyond the cleaning of the offices and the badistance of the editorial staff.

When he arrived at the office, he decided to write the report himself. He had spent his free time at the Daily Graphic and The finder read so many reports that filing one came without effort. The late George Koomson, the publisher at the time, was so impressed by his report that he encouraged him to write more.

The editor felt that the cleaning report was impossible for some journalists. With time, whenever there was a mission and the reporters were too busy, he was asked to go cover himself. His production impressed his editors and he was responsible for covering the work of the weekend.

In 2015, Elvis Darko, the editor of the newspaper to whom John says he owes a lot of gratitude, said that he was too handsome to be a substitute. It was at that time that he was appointed a full-time journalist. And he played in the press room of the first eleven with ease and excellence.

It's one thing to learn on the job and another to understand the academic theories and subtleties that go along with the work. John wanted to study journalism. Fortunately, the GIJ had set up a diploma program for adult students. John took advantage of it.

The publisher of The finderMohammed Ibrahim Awal, today Minister of State for Business Development, has sponsored him to go to school. After two years, John decided to enroll in a complementary program.

It was a happy ending for an inspiring story last Saturday.

John Elliot Hagan stated that his success depended on the kindness of those who followed him. He wants to make them proud and give them a reason to believe in others like him and support them when they can.

He's back to The finderwhere the transition began and looks forward to the menu of life. But he already has his eyes on a mastery. It is unclear how it would finance this and what the future predicts for its current state.

But he is optimistic that the mighty hand of Providence, which has led him to this point, will continue to hold and steer his way and use it as a reason for not giving up when one is stuck in a quagmire of despair and seems to have every chance against them.