MEDIA, Pa. – As communications senior Amira Elqorchi prepares to graduate on May 9, she reflected on her time at Penn State Brandywine and the unique experiences she had.
“I chose to come to Penn State Brandywine because of its proximity to home; it’s only 30 minutes from my house. The price point was great, too,” she said. “I originally wanted to do the 2+2 program and transition to University Park, but I really enjoyed my time here, and I decided to stay. I really like our proximity to Philadelphia; there are a lot of internship opportunities there.”
During her time at Brandywine, Elqorchi was a news writer for the Lion’s Eye, the campus’ newspaper, and served as a teaching assistant (TA) for the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program.
“I was approached by Karen Theveny (assistant teaching professor of communications) this semester to cover student-athletes who are graduating for Lion’s Eye, and I didn’t want to pass that up,” she said. “The TA position was also something I didn’t want to pass up. Angela Putman (associate professor of communication arts and sciences) approached me when I took one of her classes last year, asking if I wanted to be a TA for a public speaking class in a local jail, and I thought to myself, ‘When am I ever going to get the opportunity to TA in a jail setting?’ So, I took the opportunity.”
Elqorchi said she had multiple opportunities to pursue her passion for sports communications while at Brandywine, as she took on numerous internships not only within the local community but around the United States.
In July 2025, Elqorchi traveled to Las Vegas for a one-week media and broadcasting experience with the National Basketball Association (NBA) Summer League.
“I found out about this opportunity through LinkedIn. I applied and couldn’t believe I got accepted into the program. I got to spend a week interviewing broadcasters and players,” she said. “I was able to interview Mark Jones, a play-by-play announcer from ESPN, which was a great opportunity. We would take those interviews, transcribe them and write news stories on them.”
This semester, Elqorchi has been interning with the University of Pennsylvania in the athletics department, doing social media for the athletics department, primarily covering the squash team.
“Squash has a lot of international players on the team, so the department wanted to use social media as a recruiting tool and showcase the team. The women’s squash team actually won a national championship, which hasn’t happened in 20 years, so I was glad I was able to see that,” she said.
In addition to her work with the squash team, she also takes photos of and shoots videos for other sports teams at Penn. Elqorchi noted that one of the greatest things she got out of her internship was confidence.
“I went into my experiences with so much imposter syndrome and thought, ‘Am I really supposed to be here with all these people?’ I didn’t have much photography experience or my own camera,” she recalled. “So, I purchased my own camera, and my mom was a photographer, so she let me borrow a lens. During my time at Penn, I’ve learned so much about editing and lighting.”
Upon graduating from Penn State, Elqorchi said she wants to continue her work in sports communication and is planning to stay in the Philadelphia area. She is also planning on doing freelance photography while finding a job.