Media Summit | SUNY Oswego Student Blogs

There are always a lot of events that happen on campus every single day, but SUNY Oswego’s Department of Communication Studies definitely takes the cake with their Media Summit.

The Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit is an annual event that gathers students, faculty, and the like to the campus of SUNY Oswego to listen to the stories of former alumni and other important people in the industry. Not only is it an amazing opportunity for students to hear about their potential futures and the business they will be entering but it is an amazing networking event where everyone can connect and speak to one another.

This years Media Summit had the theme of ‘A Star is Born’ which brought familiar faces to the panel such as Garrick Utley of Meet the Press fame, Kevin Torres- award winning backpack journalist at KUSA, Jackie Robinson- recently retired WSTM News Anchor, Dennis Mueller- documentary filmmaker, and Edward Wyckoff Williams- columnist and political analyst. The event also brought many other important people for the Career Connector segment, where students were allowed to network with people who are already in the industry.

I remember attending my first Media Summit my Freshman year. It was located in the Sheldon Hall Ballroom and barely fit enough people. While it was still very well done back then, the event it has evolved into is an amazing production. This year, like last year, the Summit was located in the Waterman Theatre of Tyler Hall. Every single seat in the theatre was taken up and some were even left standing. The panelists talked about everything from the future of the industry, to giving advice for students who are about to graduate and break out into the field. My personal favorite part of this years Summit was being able to hear the stories of each panelist and how they got their foot in the industry.

Of course, what would a post by me be without a little plug for WTOP10-TV, who put on an AMAZING Red Carpet Show for the Media Summit (in HD of course!). It was amazing seeing how we went from the Red Carpet show last year, which was a last minute throw together, to what we did this year after weeks of planning.

While I am feeling a little bittersweet about just having attended my last Media Summit, I am so glad that SUNY Oswego was able to provide me with this for my all four years here!