Hello! My name is Will Meade and I’ll be joining TTF as an intern this summer! I’m currently a rising senior at Temple University majoring in media studies and production along with an environmental studies minor. My current interests lie in the realms of live television production and environmental storytelling through visual/virtual mediums.
Temple has given me many opportunities to progress my career! I was lucky enough to go on a student immersion trip to Arcosanti, Arizona last spring with one of the Tacony Creek Park Keepers, Siani! On this trip we studied media, ecology and technology which taught us about our Earth’s close relationship with technology and how it heavily impacts our fragile ecosystems. This all happened a week before the country went into lockdown for Covid, which ultimately influenced me to pick up my environmental studies minor. This spring I was looking for internships and Siani reached out and pointed me towards TTF!
On top of my ten-day immersion program at Arcosanti, I have also participated in other immersion programs around Philadelphia and in my hometown of Scranton (the Electric City). Earlier this month, canvassed to support Clean Water Action Philadelphia and participated in a Temple run immersion program at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. At the Schuylkill Center my fellow classmates and I helped remove invasive species, plant new trees, and mitigate erosion. As for back home in Scranton, I work on an organic blueberry farm part time where we manage over 1,000 blueberry bushes in addition to growing other fruits and vegetables all naturally.
In my free time, I enjoy hiking and backpacking across Pennsylvania and around the country with my friends and family. I also enjoy kayaking in Northeastern PA on rivers including the Lackawaxen, Delaware, Susquehanna and Lehigh! I am currently a senior news producer for OwlSports Update at Temple where I live direct and manage every aspect of the thirty-minute show that airs on TUTV every Thursday during the semester. When I graduate, I’m hoping to either find a job as an environmental filmmaker or as a live news producer for a local television station to help keep small communities informed.
During my time at TTF this summer I’m most interested in progressing my community outreach and stewardship skills. On top of that I would also like to sharpen my video editing and visual storytelling skills with TTF and the surrounding community. Finally, I’m looking forward to helping make a small but valuable contribution to the overall global conservation effort that is taking place worldwide.
