April 04, 2022
By Alaina Uricheck ’24
For sports media majors John “Jack” Imburgia ’23 and Brendan Alvino ’24, coming to Susquehanna University was an easy decision. Both swimmers, they were drawn to the university’s strong athletics program and a major they both were interested in. Now both several years into their college careers, Imburgia and Alvino are putting what they have learned in their sports media classes to good use as they promote Susquehanna’s student-athletes.
Imburgia works in social media, creating reels, TikToks and “hype videos” for the athletic department’s social media platforms.
“I enjoy working with the different teams throughout the athletic seasons. I think it’s cool how the athletes and teams appreciate the work we do in athletics when it comes to the highlight videos from their games,” Imburgia said. “That’s one of the reasons why I love what I do for the athletics department at SU.”
Alvino works with pictures and videos, using his editing skills to create promotional content for the River Hawks.
“My favorite part about working with athletics is the phenomenal people I get to work with. It is awesome to have such a hardworking group of people who share the same passion for sports as I do,” Alvino said. “I also love the creative freedom that is given to students.”
David Kaszuba, associate professor of communications, began his career as a sports journalist and now leads Susquehanna’s sports media major within the Department of Communications.
“Jack and Brendan capture the spirit of what Susquehanna’s sports media program is all about, namely providing students with the tools, opportunities and encouragement to succeed — and then letting their motivation and initiative take over,” Kaszuba said. “Sports media is a competitive field where graduating with impressive work samples is vitally important. Both Jack and Brendan have created high-quality video projects that will no doubt command the attention of prospective employers.”
Neither Imburgia, a junior, nor Alvino, a sophomore, have their postgraduate plans mapped out just yet. But they both know they want to work in the sports industry.
“Whether that be working in production, digital media or video editing,” Imburgia said. “SU helps us by letting students explore every opportunity on campus to expand our horizons to see what we like to work with, such as working with the live stream of the games, taking pictures, shooting video, working with stats, etc.”
“I would love to work as a creative in digital media or video production for a major sports team or organization,” Alvino said. “The beauty of Susquehanna’s sports media program is the doors that it opens because of its scope. It is giving me the opportunity to learn and master a variety of skills that are needed in the workplace, including writing, sports statistics, video production and advertising, just to name a few.”
Check out some of their work here.