By Keith Sanders
Chapter Education Chair
Our chapter has given away over one hundred thousand dollars in college scholarships over the years, but not very much recently. About half of the available money each year has been left on the table since 2017.
The board has taken several steps to remedy this situation. They voted to add $1,000 to all $2,000 scholarships, a 50% increase. The total amount available this year has risen to an unprecedented $23,000.
2019 Scholarship Recipients-Valeriia Lanshakova, Marcos Vedovetto, Meiying Wu, Max Brimelow
Here are the scholarships now offered:
$3,000 PETER J. MARION Memorial Undergraduate Production Scholarship
$3,000 RICO CHACON Undergraduate Journalism Scholarship
$3,000 SHELDON ‘SHELLY’ FAY Memorial Undergraduate Videography Scholarship
$3,000 NANCY ‘MISS NANCY’ BESST Memorial Graduate Production Scholarship
$3,000 JERRY JENSEN Memorial Graduate Journalism Scholarship
$3,000 LINDA GIANNECCHINI Memorial Professional Development Scholarship
$5,000 LOUISE JORJORIAN Memorial Overall Excellence Scholarship
A total of $9,000 is available for undergraduates, $6,000 for graduate students, and $3,000 for working professionals. All applicants are automatically eligible for the $5,000 overall Excellence scholarship.
The board is also helping to promote college scholarships more aggressively. This includes posting more fliers at colleges and universities plus doing more email and phone outreach to educational institutions. Governor Manjula Varghese has been the principle architect of a project to update our obsolete contact list. Many governors pitched in with new information from schools in their regions.
Board members are engaging students directly by speaking to college classes. “I’ve talked to three classes taught by Professor Diane Guerrazzi, TV Studio Manager (and former board member) Juan Serna and Professor Babak Sarrafan at San Jose State University,” said Chapter Education Committee Chair Keith Sanders. “Chapter President Steve Shlisky and other board volunteers have and will be talking to classes throughout the chapter.”
You, as a member of this chapter, can help promote scholarships. If you know an instructor who teaches media classes at a community college or university within our chapter, pass the word about our scholarships. If you give us their name we can send them a PowerPoint deck and flyer to share with students. If invited, we’ll try to send a governor to speak to their class.
If you know any college media students, make sure to tell them about this valuable opportunity. It’s not just about the money, the application process is a good workforce preparedness exercise as it’s not much different from filling out a job application. Winners can also add a brand new line to their resume that’s sure to attract notice, “2020 NATAS Scholarship recipient.”
The deadline to apply for scholarships is May 15th. Check out our website STUDENTS PAGE to learn about eligibility requirements and the application process. Please email Executive Director Darryl Compton at darryl@emmysf.tv for questions, or if you have instructor contact information.
Help us set a record this year by giving away all $23,000 to deserving students!