While most Shippensburg students were home for Fall Break, members of Shippensburg University Television (SUTV) packed their bags for a weekend in the City of Brotherly Love for the Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
The Mid-Atlantic Emmys brought many talented broadcasters to Philadelphia, some from professional television stations and some from university television programs from across the state. SUTV was nominated for three Emmys the night of October 13th, one of which I had a role in.
SUTV partnered up the Pennsylvania Cable Network last spring to broadcast the Shippensburg men's basketball team's matchup against Mansfield University. I acted as the sideline reporter in a game that would be carried to televisions across Pennsylvania. While my role was important to the broadcast, I was just one small piece of a bigger operation to get the game on the air.
It was a nice surprise when the Mid-Atlantic Emmy Chapter nominated our broadcast, but it was a bigger surprise when I found out that I would be joining my fellow SUTV leaders to the award ceremony. Arriving at Shippensburg as a Freshman, I knew that I had a chance to get recognized at the Emmys for my work with SUTV. But I never thought I would have an actual chance of attending the ceremony.
After staying at my roommate's house on 13th Street Friday night, I checked in with the rest of the SUTV members at the Marriot Hotel on Market Street. The mood was jovial as all eleven of us got situated in our rooms and got dressed for the main event. Win or lose, we were committed to having a great time while in Philadelphia for the weekend.
At 6 p.m., we went downstairs to the ballroom lobby to sign in and to attend the cocktail party. For veterans of the broadcast industry, it was an opportunity to reconnect with old friends over expensive hotel drinks. As for the college students, the cocktail party gave us an opportunity to network.
Networking, of course, is not a college student's idea of a good time. For part of the cocktail party I felt like I was on an island, all of the broadcast veterans were socializing as if it was a class reunion, yet I had no clue who 95% of the people were in the room. Eventually I mustered up some courage to talk to some people and discuss my post-grad job aspirations.
As we all convened into the ballroom for the ceremony, I along with some of the SUTV members kept their expectations low about winning. SUTV for years has been nominated for Emmys, and while we've had individuals win Emmys for their fantastic stories that aired on our Thursday night broadcast, we've come up short on winning for our live sports broadcasts. In years past, Robert Morris University has edged out SUTV for several live sports broadcasting Emmys.
Silence fell upon our table as the presenter walked across the stage to announce the winner of our category. She opened the envelope and, to the surprise of everyone at the table, announced that SUTV won the Student Production Sports Live Event Emmy.
Our table could hardly hold in their excitement, as everyone jumped out of their seats. Wave after wave of emotions kept hitting me while trying to process that we won an Emmy. I ran up to the stage to accept the award with my producer, director, and color commentator while nearly knocking over a hotel waiter in the process. As we stood up on stage to accept the award, the four of us stared into the crowed ballroom with the brightest of smiles.
Our evening continued to get better as one of our SUTV alumni won an Emmy for his feature story on a children's summer camp. By the end of it all, SUTV had captured two-out-of-the-three Emmy's we were nominated for.
The experience of it all was arguably the highlight of my life as a member of SUTV and a student at Shippensburg University. With the help of my peers, I was able to realize a dream I thought wasn't within the realm of possibility. And in the process, SUTV was able to display the best of what Shippensburg University has to offer.
