For broadcasting student Jeremy Zimmerman ’14, a year in Philadelphia has provided countless opportunities to “get plugged in.” Now in his second semester at the Messiah College Philadelphia Campus, Zimmerman has made a commitment to community life, inner-city living and, most of all, a practical education. “It was easy to see myself develop with skills related to my major,” Zimmerman began. “My courses have focused on projects rather than theory or process… I’m more of a hands-on kind of guy, so these classes are really where I start to shine.”

When Zimmerman arrived at the Philadelphia Campus last fall, he enrolled in four courses, including Media Production and Advanced Editing. The latter course tested Zimmerman’s flexibility, requiring the broadcasting major to work with Apple Final Cut Pro, an unfamiliar video editing software. “Advanced Editing, in particular, really pushed me to my limits, because I had never really worked with video editing before,” Zimmerman said. Several weeks later, during a series of interviews for a spring internship, Zimmerman started to notice the benefits of his perseverance. “Both locations that offered me internships said they wanted me because I had put ‘film editing skills’ on my resume,” Zimmerman said, “a result of taking Advanced Editing and going outside of my comfort zone.” (more…)

Two Messiah College Philadelphia Campus students accept the invitation to “Love our City. Teach our Children”

Tackling the “old school” reputation of its inner city educational system head-on, the School District of Philadelphia has instituted the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows (PTF) program, designed to recruit, train, and retain highly-qualified and diverse teachers for the public school system’s high-need classrooms.

This program proved to be an ideal fit for two Messiah College students, who studied at Messiah College’s Philadelphia Campus (MCPC) at Temple University, and were drawn to the urban charms and challenges they discovered in America’s sixth largest city. (more…)