At a school of high achievers, it’s impressive when someone manages to stand out as a particularly strong and effective leader. Carmel Barsh, a senior from Summit, New Jersey, is known as much for her warm and vibrant personality as she is for her work to restart and revolutionize Colgate University TV (CUTV), which had been defunct until this year.

Almost a half-century ago, CUTV was more focused on video journalism, but it had been inactive for the past decade. Barsh, a geography concentrator, took over CUTV and revamped it into an organized and active group that regularly produces online content, making everything from documentaries to Instagram videos.

“Today, because of the way that we consume media, with Tik Tok and more short-form videos, we’ve tried to adapt [CUTV] to that, while still keeping the whole vibe of it being very Colgate-centric and informative,” Barsh explained.

Barsh has spent the past year focusing on CUTV with dedication and ingenuity. To make CUTV successful, she has become something of a production hyphenate. Barsh is the CUTV Executive Producer, but she has worked with editing, brainstorming, inter-group communication and content creation as well.

“I had to learn how to edit, so I had to learn how to use [Adobe] Premiere, because we didn’t really have a lot of editors. [We also focused on] the recruiting process, we had to set up a table at the club fair, at the beginning of the semester,” Barsh said. “We got funding for some equipment successfully, which was really awesome.”

Barsh made sure to share credit with her team and with senior Sebastian Coco, the one who got her involved with CUTV. The summer before the 2021 school year, Coco began the CUTV revamp by emailing people he thought would be interested. Barsh’s friend was on the email and passed her the information, and the rest was history.

Once Coco handed off the reins, Barsh hit the ground running. To establish a campus foothold, she reached out to other clubs and groups and began collaborating with them on projects.

“At first, it was a matter of just getting content off the ground and gaining some traction, and we drew from a lot of existing clubs and organizations on campus, like the 13 Degrees Magazine and their social media presence,” Barsh said.

Barsh takes her duty to the Colgate community seriously. She decentralized CUTV, transforming it from a group focused only on internal projects to one that combines original work with campus involvement. Under her leadership, CUTV has worked on a documentary with Colgate 13, the 13 Objects series with 13 Degrees Magazine and music videos, amongst other projects.

“If there are clubs and organizations who feel like they don’t have as much of a spotlight […] we are one of a few resources that can be utilized to spread their message,” Barsh said.

“[I want people to see CUTV] as an approachable organization that wants to help other people spread their stories […] We’re open to ideas from all the students on campus, and are willing to talk with them and create something that’s actually plausible, and that’s what we’re here for,” Barsh added.

The community within CUTV is important to Barsh as well. She brought her friends with her when she joined CUTV, and she has made connections with new recruits that go beyond CUTV work. 

“It’s a lot of fun [working with your friends], and it’s a lot of very like creative-minded, motivated people who are all equally driven to not only have the idea but get the idea done, and put it into action, which has been really awesome,” Barsh said. “I think one of the benefits of doing it with my friends too is that we will not only have the ideas but we’ll be like ‘ok, let’s just go do it.’”

Barsh enjoys problem-solving and has invested time and energy into making CUTV a more effective and professional organization.

“In the process of [making a video series], it was really cool to be like ‘ok, this didn’t work last time, so we’re gonna try to do this to make it go a little quicker and make it a little more efficient,’” Barsh explained.

Barsh wants CUTV to be her legacy at Colgate, and her goal has been to enable the group to continue the work she started. 

“I think a lot of the work that I’ve been doing has been to set up CUTV to be sustainable and last and I’ve been talking a lot to leadership for next year and giving them ideas for how to recruit and maintain members, so creating a bond […] That’s my biggest hope. Everything that I’ve done has been with the hopes of creating a sustainable environment for the club to keep going,” Barsh said.

As for what comes next? Barsh sees a career in producing in her future and wants to build off her CUTV experience.

“I am hoping to go into this business after graduation, so it’s been really cool to flex the muscles of producing and I really love coordinating with all these different people and bringing all the different pieces together […] I just love the beginning to end, I love the entire thing, it’s a lot of fun,” Barsh said.

And CUTV?

“It can only get better,” Barsh said with a smile.