Temple University’s School of Media and Communication Career Services Center bussed 50 students to New York City for a day’s trip. At no cost, students traveled to the Big Apple to hear a panel of five Temple alumni speak who have earned high end careers in the media field. The event was held at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. on Wall Street.
The panelists included Temple Update veteran Meredith McGinn (’94), as well as Rich Levy (’79), Michael Kauffman (’86), Yomi Desalu (’99) and Doug Maine (’71) who helped put the program together. The five alums currently work in New York City, and each shared their journeys to success with the students, and how networking played a role in their career paths. Collectively, the alums have worked for NBC, FCB Health, Google, MTV, and Broadway.
SMC Career Services Director, Lu Ann Cahn, stressed the importance alumni relations.
“If you listen to the panelists, almost every single one said there was a friend, there was a roommate, there was someone they knew from Temple who helped them get ahead. This is where our connections begin. In this industry, it’s a very small industry, once you start working in it you realize you start to know people in circles and they can help you get ahead.”
Dean David Boardman also made an appearance, and spoke to the strength of the SMC program’s alumni base. Boardman also expressed the importance of events such as these and encouraged students to take advantage of networking opportunities.
“While you cannot achieve anything simply from who you know, who you know can help you a lot in terms of advice, experience and connections.”
The event concluded with the panelists answering questions from the students, and students were also given the chance to speak with them one on one. Although this is the first time SMC put together an event like this, students felt the experience was very much worth while.
SMC student, Ben Palestino said, “I think that we should definitely get more programs like this; networking opportunities, meeting with professionals in our industry.”
Cahn said that SMC will definitely look to put on more programs like this in the future.
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