Jeff Kurkjian ’15 is interviewed by The Weather Channel.
The winter of 2015 is becoming one for the record books in Central New York.
February set an all-time record for Syracuse, with an average daily temperature of 9 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s above zero, even though on many days the wind chill factor reached well below negative 10.
Members of the print and broadcast media turned to the Syracuse University campus for answers. How are students dealing with the cold? That question was posed by Sam Champion on The Weather Channel, and Jeff Kurkjian ’15 was ready with the answers, showing Champion the many pieces of layered clothing in his arsenal.
The segment aired during The Weather Channel’s prime morning newscast. “Bridget Lichtinger from the CDC [Career Development Center] at Newhouse emailed me with this opportunity and I immediately jumped right on it,” says Kurkjian, a broadcast and digital journalism student. “I was put in contact with their booking agent and we did a pre-interview yesterday and got a rough idea of what the segment would be like. I set up the Skype call and then all of the sudden it was over. It was so much fun, and I really enjoyed the experience.”
The Weather Channel didn’t stop there, coming onto campus to offer live reports on the weather and how Syracuse residents are dealing with it.
But Kurkjian wasn’t the only member of the Syracuse University community sought out by the media in its quest to tell the cold weather story. Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology Kevin Antshel was interviewed in Syracuse by WSYR radio, offering his thoughts on how the cold affects us from a psychological standpoint, and what we can do to avoid letting the weather get the better of us. Meanwhile Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Eric Lui spoke to the Syracuse Post-Standard about the best way to handle heavy snow on the rooftop.
