From SMC to NYC: Students Attend Professional Alumni Panel Hosted in the ‘Big Apple’

WRITTEN BY: NATHAN WEAVER

This past Friday, an eager group of 50 students and alumni from Temple’s School of Media and Communications took a trip to New York City for the first ever Professional Alumni Panel. The host of the event was Alumnus of the School of Media and Communications, Doug Maine, who is now a lead investor for New Deco Orchestra and a Broadway Producer. The panel included other Alumni: Meredith Mcginn (SCT ’94), Rich Levy (SCM ’79), Michael Kauffman (SCM ’86), and Yomi Desalu (CCET ’99).

“I was really impressed with the stories they had to tell us,” freshman and Media Studies and Production student Carli Showmaker explained. “Hearing about the struggles and risk that each person took in their life after college, it all just amazed me at where they are now.”

Michael Kauffman told his story after college by saying that he moved to Chicago and lived with his boss that could not even afford to pay him for his work.

Rich Levy was hired out of college as a copy writer for a small media company before going into his long time career of advertising.

Doug Maine claimed he did not actually find his niche in his line of work until he went back to school for his MBA after graduating from the media school, giving him a background in both business and media, which was needed for his career. Now, there is a Business and Entrepreneurship track of the Media Studies and Production major.

Experiencing the networking availability there was an eye-opening experience. It showed that Temple Owls are everywhere and that they can stick together, even after graduation.

The next event that will be run by the Career Center at the School of Media and Communications is a job and internship fair that will take place on March 30 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Mitten Hall. Companies will include CBS Radio, Fox 29, and iHeartMedia Philadelphia along with fifty-five others.