Our Week in Murphy Hall
By Brianna Colantoni and Livia Kleiner
Murphy Hall is Arcadia University’s oldest building. It’s been many things such as a stable, gymnasium, and chapel, but it’s still around and is being used as the main building for Media and Communication. This means our days revolve around constantly going in and out of Murphy. Sometimes it feels like we are on our own campus because of Murphy’s secluded location. This building includes everything you need to record and produce content starting with video equipment in the equipment room to a podcast room and video lab for editing.
Here’s our week in Murphy Hall:
Monday 12:15 pm (Brianna)
I have my Strategic Media Planning and Writing class from 12:15–1:20 pm in Room 108. This class is all about building a public relations portfolio filled with different forms of public relations writing. We are also tasked with looking at real-world case studies in class and creating a collaborative public relations campaign related to a topic on Arcadia’s campus. Monday’s class time is usually spent learning about the topic we are going to be applying to our week-long assignment. This is where new concepts are introduced and case studies are examined.
Monday 2:45 pm (Both)
Then from 2:45–3:50 pm, we have Multimedia Publishing and Production in Room 117. In this class, we work on creating multimedia stories. We wrote pieces, took pictures, recorded audio segments, created graphics, and edited videos.
Tuesday 4:00 pm (Livia)
From 4:00–6:50 pm, I have Creative Video in Room 108. This class is about using various techniques to create unique video projects. We also work in groups to create creative pieces to present at two shows.
Wednesday 12:15 pm (Brianna)
I have my Strategic Media class again from 12:15–1:20 pm in Room 108. Wednesday classes are our writing days so this is when we either work on our assignment due Friday, take a practice AP Style Quiz, or work in our groups to get more of our semester-long project done.
Wednesday 2:45 pm (Both)
Then from 2:45–3:50 pm we have Multimedia Publishing and Production again in Room 117. At the beginning of the semester, this class would be dedicated to learning about another component that we are going to apply to our multimedia feature stories. During the end of the semester, this class is shifted to working on finalizing our drafts for our stories.
Wednesday 4:00 pm (Livia)
Afterwards, I have Senior Seminar II from 4:00–6:50 pm in Room 117. I’m trying to graduate a semester early, so I’m taking the Senior Seminar classes as a junior. It’s rare we actually meet as a class though, typically we have individual meetings with our advisor since we are all working on different projects. Those meetings happen upstairs in my advisor’s office. Either way, I’m still in Murphy Hall.
Thursday 2:00 pm (Brianna)
On Thursday, I don’t have any classes located in Murphy but I still come to Murphy Hall for work study. I work in the equipment room from 2–6pm which is located right across from Murphy 108. As a student supervisor, my job consists of making sure all equipment is in the right place and cameras are charged and ready to be used. I also have to assist students when they want to check out equipment for one of their classes. On top of those duties, I work with Dr. Deshpande to format articles and work with Julia, the studio supervisor, to upload senior’s work to the main Wordpress thesis website for their capstone projects.
Friday 12:15 pm (Brianna)
My Strategic Media and Planning class is asynchronous on Friday so I am not physically in Murphy 108 for class. However, during class time I am finishing the assignment for the week and submitting it on Canvas.
Friday 2:45 pm (Both)
Finally, from 2:45–3:50 pm, we have our final Multimedia Publishing and Production class of the week in Room 117. This class time is spent applying what we have learned throughout the week to an in-class exercise or conducted as a workshop day where we work on our multimedia feature stories and acquire feedback from our peers and Michael.
Since we’re very familiar with Murphy Hall, we created a video to help new students out by giving an overview of Murphy and our advice for students taking classes there.
As previously stated, we’re very familiar with Murphy Hall, which means we also have our gripes with it. So, to get our frustration out, we had a little Murphy Hall Rant Session which you can listen to below.
Considering most of our time is spent in Murphy Hall, we have made so many great memories. If it wasn’t for Murphy, we wouldn’t have met and become friends. One of my (Brianna) favorite memories in Murphy would have to be last semester when I was a part of 1853 Communications, the PR Practicum at Arcadia, and we conducted an event to raise awareness of ACCT Philly where students could meet some of the dogs at the shelter and partake in making crafts and dog toys. So many people showed up that day and it really felt like the community was coming together to support this cause.
One of my (Livia) favorite memories was our Event Management class. I switched to it because one of my other classes got canceled last minute, and we ended up being there together. I enjoyed that class because I got to do something a bit different from my usual classes since I’m in the screen media concentration. It was also just fun getting to meet up one night a week for the class. We’ve been in Murphy Hall for many different classes and events, so it’s definitely one of the most important places on campus for us.
