In spring 1996, John Di Carlo wrote his first article for The Temple News, 500 words on the stature of student media on campus.

More than a decade later, he is helping young journalists have just as good an experience.

“It is exciting to walk into Room 243 of the Student Center and see young people making big decisions,” said Di Carlo, Class of 1998 and former sports editor.

If anyone can understand the challenges of working at a top university newspaper while pulling a full load of academic courses, it is Di Carlo. He first went to Cabrini College, a small Catholic school on the Main Line, in 1994, but wasn’t happy.

So, he transferred to Temple and, by the spring of his sophomore year, he was writing for The Temple News.

“I knew right away that it was a special atmosphere,” Di Carlo said. “I loved the people, the product and the work we put into it.”

He spent his junior year covering the men’s basketball team, well enough that by the fall of his final year, he was one of the paper’s top writers. He started freelancing for the Daily Journal, based in Vineland, NJ, just before he accepted the role of sports editor of The Temple News.

He graduated that May and accepted a full time position at the Daily Journal not long after covering high school sports in South Jersey. He spent more than four years there but something was missing.

“I wanted something more,” he said. “So, I started looking for new opportunities.”

His chance came when Tom Eveslage, a Temple journalism professor Di Carlo once had, told him about an opening as student media adviser at the university.

“Tom has been a mentor to me,” Di Carlo said. “I applied, had an interview and was brought in on October 26, 2001.”

When he came, there was plenty of work to be done.

“The business office was a mess; we were thousands of dollars in debt,” he said. “I was a journalist, so nothing hadprepared me for all I was faced with on the financial end, because I didn’t have as much experience there. I had to learn everything that goes into putting a newspaper together, beyond just writing and editing stories.

“I love the constant challenge of learning more, and that’s what has made my job here so rewarding. We have such a diverse and terrific group of students here at Temple that challenge me every day. We’re charged with helping them realize their potential, and this is a fantastic place to be because of the potential they have.”

And the opportunities to learn are a plenty.

In addition to The Temple News, Di Carlo advises Templar, the university’s official yearbook, and WHIP, the student-run Internet radio station. He also serves on several Student Affairs committees.

Di Carlo was born on June 14, 1976 in Chester, Pa., and spent the first four years of his life in nearby Wallingford. His family moved to Naverville, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, for a year, before spending the next four in Pittsburgh. In 1986, his family moved to Downingtown, Pa., about 40 minutes west of Philadelphia in Chester County, where his parents still live. He has a younger brother who, like John, also lives in Manayunk.

Profile written by Christopher Wink, Class of 2008 and former Opinion Editor.