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.”