Sydney Binkley
Degree: BA, media studies and production
College: Klein College of Media and Communication
Hometown: Reading, Pennsylvania

Why I chose Temple: When I transferred to Temple my sophomore year, I was really looking for a program that focused on hands-on media experience getting in the studio, getting to direct and edit, do graphics, and work a camera. I felt that Temple, and Klein, really provided that compared to the other school I had been at.

Also, Philadelphia is a very sports-centered town, and an entertainment-centered town. You have the major news stations: NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX. There are plenty of opportunities here in the media world, so I feel like this was a good starting ground for my career. If I want to go into sports, there are four teams all within the same area. Or if I want to go into news, there are all these great options.

Transformative Temple moment: During the spring semester of my junior year, I took a TUTV practicum class, which is a once-per-week class where we work on a television show. Every week it s a different show, and it s basically a class just to get your hands in the water. I already had a lot of production experience at that point, but not in a TV studio.

But the really influential part of the class was it connected me to a professor named Paul Gluck, who has been my mentor ever since. He helped me become a really good director and gave me opportunities to step up. From there, I served as the technical director for TUTV Live in Paris, which was our tv programming centered around the summer Olympics in Paris. And I ve continued to work for TUTV. I worked election night, taking TUTV on and off air.

That class was really the spark for me to get involved in Temple television. I had worked so heavily in sports that this experience helped me realize there are other opportunities out there. I learned all these other skills that I now use every day in my job.

What s next: I m currently working as a production and AV manager at Xfinity Live! and I ll be continuing there after graduation. What that entails is basically any screen, any video, any audio, speakers, lighting, DJs, bands it s my job to make sure that everything s on, everything s working and make sure our live entertainment is ready to go at the right time. For example, on Phillies opening day we used a robo camera and a handheld camera operator to show off various activities happening throughout the venue. You want to ride a bull? We have that. You want to have a nice, quieter experience? We have a spot for that, too. It s kind of like storytelling on a very large scale, with a lot of stuff going on. I almost want to call it chaos management, but it s been really wonderful.