Gaby Cruz of Springdale, a broadcast journalism major at the University of Arkansas, is one of 10 students nationwide to receive a scholarship from the inaugural National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation Scholars Program.

The program is designed to enable outstanding communications students from diverse backgrounds to complete their undergraduate degree and begin careers in broadcasting. It provides scholarships to communications students with financial need beginning in their junior year and continuing through their senior year.

Cruz, a junior this fall in the Walter J. Lemke Department of Journalism in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, will receive $10,000 per year for her last two years of college.

“To me, it was such an accomplishment because I’ve worked hard before and never gotten any recognition, but this was something where I worked very hard and then to get something like this — I was really happy and very emotional,” she said.

Cruz began working toward a career in broadcasting when she was in high school as one of the first students to take part in the Lemke Journalism Project, a high school journalism program sponsored by the UA journalism department.

“Gaby was one of the most enthusiastic students in the program,” said Katherine Shurlds, director of the Lemke Journalism Project. “She participated all three years she was eligible in high school and even came back during her first year at NorthWest Arkansas Community College.”

Shurlds said Cruz also was active in the broadcast program at Springdale High School and was one of the first Latinas to anchor a program there.

The Scholars Program award also is an honor for the UA and its journalism department. The National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation selected 10 schools, based on the quality of their communications programs and on regional distribution.

Each communications school or department selected a student to receive the scholarship based not only on financial need but also on the student’s demonstrated ability and promise. The students chosen had to be broadcast majors who have at least a 2.0 grade point average and maintain it during the scholarship period.

© The Morning News.

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Monday, August 14, 2006 at 12:30 am and is filed under Education News, Scholarship. Tags: College, Education News, Scholarship, Student, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.