A career in television. A promise to keep. A degree to finish.

The image of a “traditional” on-campus student is someone just out of high school, looking to bring their education to the next level in order to prepare themselves for the professional world.

That’s how it started for Tim Bristol, an Indiana Tech student currently working on his bachelor’s degree in communications. Four months before completing his degree at Ball State in 1992, he was offered a producer’s job with WISH-TV out of Indianapolis with a salary of $44,000.

“When somebody offered you $44,000 a year, and you have a young family, you say ‘yes,’ and you didn’t wait for graduation day,” Bristol said.

For more than three decades, Bristol built his livelihood around live TV production, eventually spending 12 years with the Midwest division of CBS Sports. The role took him to hockey games in Detroit, Padres games in San Diego and countless other sporting events along the way.

But then, things changed dramatically when Heidi, Bristol’s wife of 31 years, died suddenly. In her final days, she reminded him that he had never completed his bachelor’s degree.

He made her a promise: He would go back.

He made her a promise: He would go back.

So, Bristol, now 56, is an Indiana Tech communications student–a fixture in the Smaardyk Center Multimedia Studio assisting faculty and students with projects. He’s working to achieve the bachelor’s degree he left behind three decades ago.

“I’m enjoying the process of either relearning, or learning new stuff,” he said. “I’ve also enjoyed working with different students. We had 14 in here with Communications 3650. We’ve had engineering students from Zollner and across the way at Talwar who did their senior capstones, and we recorded them. We’ve done podcasts from here that we stream on Facebook and or TikTok, and we’re hoping to do more with that.”

As he focuses on his academic pursuits, Bristol has continued to work, calling himself a “master of part-time jobs.” When he’s not at Indiana Tech, he’s providing production support at WANE-TV or the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum or taking a freelance gig with CBS Sports.

Bristol is a testament to the idea that one can start, or finish, their education at any time. He’s considering working towards a master’s degree with Indiana Tech, because he likes working with students and helping them figure out their professional goals, and envisions a faculty job within a university as a possibility for the future.

“I don’t mind helping, teaching, learning, expressing, sharing. I’ve seen or been part of all of that,” he said. “So, is that the end game, perhaps at 56? It’d be fun to share some of these details in a structured environment within the communications department. Is that going to happen? We’ll see. Is that a possible goal? Definitely.”

Until that time comes, he’s happy immersing himself in his work, whether it’s at one of his part-time jobs, in the classroom, or assisting students who are trying to find themselves in Indiana Tech’s multimedia studio.

“This studio gives them that opportunity to do that and to control the different variables and lighting and audio and everything else. So that’s the fun part, and it’s fun to contribute to that because I know what they’re looking for,” he said.