scholarships

2009 NJC grant recipients

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Thanks to AAJA Seattle member Caroline Li, who publishes earthwalkersmag.com, for coordinating this year’s Northwest Journalists of Color scholarship program. Meet this year’s award recipients!

peter

Peter Sessum

Peter is a business and journalism major at Edmonds Community College and is the current editor in chief at the Triton Review, his campus newspaper. He says, “As a journalist of color, last year I thought it was important to report from a different perspective, especially writing about those of us of mixed heritage and how we feel trapped in the middle. Now as the editor in chief, I encourage the reporters to report on their own ethnic perspectives. Diversity now has a voice on campus.”

Peter is also part of the Washington National Guard and recently transferred to a public affairs unit, which specialized in journalism. Through that program, he will be trained in broadcast journalism. He says, “ I am not young and idealistic, yet I am excited to see the direction journalism will take in the coming years and I look forward to being a part of it.”

One of our scholarship judges said, “ Peter is doing something different by going into journalism via the military route. He is also running a paper and taken it to the next level.

Martha Flores

Martha Flores Perez

Martha is an English and Spanish and Latin American Studies major at the University of Washington, Seattle Campus. She’s been a teacher and mentor to the local community youth through various programs that she is involved with. She says, “One of my goals is to work for a bilingual publication, whether it is a newspaper, online media or literary magazine…My experiences as an immigrant, as my family’s translator and with struggles to continue with my education have taught me about social injustices that often go unreported in the mainstream media.”

One of our scholarship judges said, “Martha shows a lot of initiative by her intern work and going to UNITY. She obviously has a drive. She’s going to be a reporter whether or not she gets this scholarship.”

Kassiopia Rodgers
Kassiopia Rodgers

Kassiopia is journalism major at Seattle University. She’s also a volunteer writer at the Spectator, Seattle U’s campus newspaper and a current intern at the Seattle Weekly. Last summer she participated in a study abroad program to India called, Mass Media in modern India, where she was able to interview the local journalists there.

She says, “ Committing to a career in journalism means falling in love and staying in love. You are your craft…I hope that with my hard work and dedication, I can inspire women of all backgrounds and show them that money should never be a determining factor when it comes to their own future.”

One of our scholarship judges said, “Kassiopa has both experiences as a writer and a blogger. She knows what students need to succeed in today’s journalism world.”

Ilona Idlis
Ilona Idlis

Ilona is a senior at Sammamish High School in Bellevue and plans to attend the University of Washington next year.

She says, “I am fascinated with the unknown and unfamiliar; I crave the smells and sounds of distant countries, the sights of novel faces and metropolises. I welcome culture shock- I need it.”

One of our judges said, “Ilona has strong opinions and huge potential.”

“I Am A Journalist”

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THE BACK STORY

This year the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) Seattle chapter and the Seattle Association of Black Journalists (SABJ) partnered to produce a new video aimed at young minorities who are interested in pursuing careers in journalism. We wanted to counter the prevailing sense of doom and gloom, highlight outstanding local leaders and show the breadth of job opportunities in the industry.

In the spirit of encouraging young journalists’ creative spark, we handed it to two young women – Amy Phan, a former seattletimes.com intern who is working part-time as a video editor and a school teacher, and Jessica Boyd, a former NJC scholarship recipient who is continuing her education at Harvard in the fall.

Amy and Jessica conducted the interviews and shot the video, and Amy applied her video editing skills to create the final product. Thanks to all the journalists who agreed to participate in this project, and to Seattle University’s Prof. James Forsher, who made it possible for Amy to access the institution’s video editing equipment.

Also a big thanks to those journalists who sent in their own videos to be incorporated into the piece: Paris Jackson and Barbara Serrano. Email the video link to your friends. We hope the video goes viral and inspires many young journalists!

DONATIONS TO NJC

Donations to NJC, which AAJA Seattle administers, are fully tax deductible. Since 1986, NJC has provided scholarships to more than 100 outstanding college students in Washington state with a demonstrated passion for journalism. Make a pledge today! For details, contact Sanjay Bhatt at sbhatt@seattletimes.com.

Remembering Vu

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At this year’s Northwest Journalists of Color scholarship reception, we honored the life of Vu Nguyen, a former Seattle Times reporter and AAJA Seattle member who died suddenly last month at age 34. We held a tribute to him at the reception because he embodied many qualities that we seek in new journalists – intellectual curiosity, passion for the craft, determination to get the story, and a sense of humor.

A memorial fund is being established in Vu’s name by his family and friends in Orange County. Another is being established in the Midwest where Vu got his master’s degree. If you’d like to make a donation to the Northwest Journalists of Color in Vu’s name, you can know that 100% of your donation will go towards scholarships for young minority college students interested in journalism. Contact Sanjay Bhatt at sbhatt@seattletimes.com for details.

NOTE: Some people wonder why Vu’s byline (Nguyen Huy Vu) put his last name first. That’s the traditional Vietnamese way to honor the family name.

Apply for the AAJA Seattle Founder’s Scholarship! (Deadline June 3)

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Are you a student who wants to go to the 2009 AAJA National Convention in Boston? We have one convention registration available for students. If you are a student member, please apply for the AAJA Seattle Founder’s Scholarship by June 3.

To apply, please submit a 500-word statement on what you hope to learn at the conference. Send the statement to AAJA Seattle at aajaseattle@gmail.com with the phrase “Founder’s Scholarship” in the subject line. Please also include a two to three sentence biography that states your age, what school you attend and your major, when you plan to graduate and your newspaper, radio, online or TV experience.

The recipient will be responsible for airfare, lodging and any other incidentals. He or she may be able to split a room with another journalist attending the conference. The chapter has members going to the convention who may still be looking for a roommate. This year’s convention is Aug. 12-15.

Northwest Journalists of Color scholarship – Apply today!

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Northwest Journalists of Color

AAJA Seattle is now accepting applications for the 2009 Northwest Journalists of Color scholarship. The chapter launched the scholarship in 1986 to increase the pipeline of minorities pursuing careers in media. NJC scholars receive a grant toward their college studies and access to mentors in journalism. NJC alumni have gone on to work for CBS News, Los Angeles Times, The Seattle Times, Microsoft and Sony Pictures.

To download the application, click here.

Founders’ Scholarship winner learns to network at UNITY

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This year the AAJA Seattle chapter awarded the Founders’ Scholarship to University of Washington junior Anusha Roy, who is interested in broadcast journalism and currently the multimedia intern at seattletimes.com.

The Founders’ scholarship, which covers the cost of registration to the national AAJA convention, was established in 2000 to honor Frank Abe, Ron Chew, and Lori Matsukawa, who founded the AAJA Seattle chapter in 1985. The recipient must be a current AAJA Seattle chapter member and enrolled in an accredited college or university in Washington state.

Roy, a Seattle native, got interested in journalism when she started as a reporter for The HuskyCast, the University of Washington’s online webcast. She got hooked on broadcast journalism when she interned with New Delhi Television News in Kolkata, India, during the fall of 2007. She expects to graduate in the spring of 2010.

Anusha Roy

By ANUSHA ROY

Networking, a very unnatural habit, finally came easily to me at UNITY. UNITY is a conference that brings the Hispanic, Asian, African American and Native American journalist associations together for a conference every four years. This year, thousands of minority journalists gathered in the windy city of Chicago. The first person I talked to at UNITY – he happened to be from the Washington Post – started up a casual chat in line waiting to register. After that, I had dinner with Lori Matsukawa from KING 5 News, made contacts at AP, CNN and Northwest Cable News, to name a few.

I incessantly presented myself, promoting my interests to any broadcast news organization that had an internship. This was once again made easy at the job fair where every news organization imaginable was there, crossing newspapers to TV. I seized the chance to have my resume tape critiqued by NBC, CNN and Belo Corporation. This rare privilege gave me insight into what these companies value in a reporter.

“Right now it is about survival in journalism, but at the same time people reassured me that there are ways to make a career in journalism; they just might not be traditional.”

Since I was not looking for jobs, my time at UNITY was relatively stress free, especially since I was not on the receiving end of “we have a hiring freeze but give us your resume to file” or “we are hiring internally for those positions.” The uncertain times of the media industry, particularly newspapers, refused to be hidden. But, as a group of journalists should, people were straight up with the facts. The associations are prepping their members to acknowledge the choppy times ahead. But the associations also see an opportunity for their members to adapt and survive these difficult times. The associations remain focused on their mission of increasing diversity in newsrooms to reflect the population of America, a goal that will lead to more accurate and fair news reporting.

In the momentum of adaption, there was an all-day multimedia workshop. There were sessions on web writing and editing video for the web. There were panels on foreign reporting in changing times. Right now, multimedia skills are key to being marketable in this industry for print and broadcast. For broadcast journalists, learning to be a one-man band is incredibly important, a trend being picked up by many TV news stations. To be able to film, edit footage, write scripts, complete voiceovers and stand ups are important, since there is no longer a strict divide in responsibilities according to job titles.

My most important discovery at UNITY was the courage and enthusiasm found at the conference. Right now it is about survival in journalism, but at the same time people reassured me that there are ways to make a career in journalism; they just might not be traditional.

Preserving worthy journalism is a top priority, and that is why UNITY was such a success. The thousands of minority journalists at the conference understood that they are key to increasing the quality of journalism and a changing industry will not stop them.

AAJA Seattle awards 2008 Northwest Journalists of Color scholarships

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On June 18, the Asian American Journalists Association Seattle chapter awarded five promising young men and women scholarships to recognize their talent and encourage their journalism aspirations.

AAJA Seattle has been building a pipeline of minority journalists through the Northwest Journalists of Color program since 1986. More than 100 scholarships have been awarded. Previous winners have gone on to work for The Seattle Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press, CBS News and many, many more news organizations.

The Seattle Times hosted the reception in its auditorium, and sports columnist Jerry Brewer gave a heartfelt speech that inspired and moved us all.

Left to right: KING 5 anchor Lori Matsukawa, Mary Jean Spadafora, Seattle Times columnist Jerry Brewer, Tom Giratikanon's father, Peter Sessum, Michelle Ericksen, Olivia Hernandez.

Left to right: KING 5 anchor Lori Matsukawa, Mary Jean Spadafora, Seattle Times columnist Jerry Brewer, Tom Giratikanon's father, Peter Sessum, Michelle Ericksen, Olivia Hernandez.

Congratulations to this year’s NJC winners!
Michelle Ericksen
Michelle Ericksen, 20, is a senior at the University of Washington, where she is double majoring in political science and communications. Michelle says she discovered her passion in a journalism class at Highline Community College and went on to become editor of The Thunderword, the student newspaper. In addition to her numerous academic honors at Highline Community College, Michelle is the recipient of the Blethen award, which is aimed at UW students and designed to encourage cultural and ethnic diversity in the journalism profession. Born in India, Michelle is multi-racial: Persian, Punjabi and Norwegian. Michelle wrote in her essay, “Being born in a different country has made me appreciative of all the diversity especially in Seattle. Whenever I write a story, I try and get as many different opinions as I can.”

Tom Giratikanon
Tom Giratikanon, 21, is a senior at Northwestern University, where he is majoring in journalism. If there’s one running theme in Tom’s journalism pursuits, it’s blazing his own trail. At Edmonds-Woodway High School, he started The Prophet, an alternative student newspaper, and in college, he founded an award-winning daily online news site, North by Northwestern, that rivals the daily student newspaper. He’s now the lead web developer and designer for Abroad View magazine, a national magazine about study abroad. One of his professors writes, “I have no doubt that his commitment to ethics, high skill set and entrepreneurial spirit will allow him to be a journalist who makes a strong mark on the industry in the future.” Tom is a 2005 recipient of the NJC scholarship.
Olivia Hernandez
Olivia Hernandez, 18, joins Seattle University this fall and is a communications major. She graduated from A.C. Davis High School in Yakima, was a stand-out participant in last year’s summer journalism workshop at Seattle University and has written for four years for the Yakima Herald-Republic’s weekly “Unleashed” section for teens. For two years in a row she won honors for her writing in the national Youth Editorial Alliance awards across all newspaper circulation sizes. Olivia writes, “I have learned that being able to represent others and give them a voice is the most important task carried out by journalists and it is a torch that I cannot wait to bear.” As her editor at the Yakima paper tells us, Olivia is one of the best writers Unleashed has had and is a quiet leader among the teen writers, “the kind that leads by example, by doing and listening and modeling principles, not by being loud or bossy.”
Peter Sessum
Peter Sessum, 36, is a student at Edmonds Community College, where he studies journalism and is an editor at the student newspaper, The Triton Review. A father and husband, Peter returned to school after working for more than a year in Afghanistan on counter-narcotics operations for the State Department. Peter brings a rare perspective to his work, having visited 29 nations during his time in the Army, and intends to report from overseas on “what people in the countries where the military is currently deployed really think.”

Mary Jean Spadafora
Mary Jean Spadafora, 18, starts college this fall at the University of Washington, where she plans to major in communications. Mary graduated from Kentridge High School, where she wrote for its Fleet Street News. A Cherokee by birth, Mary says that she wants to make the news more interesting for teens and young adults without sacrificing objectivity and good writing. Her journalism teacher writes, “Whether through a carefully wrought piece of analysis or a straightforward inverted pyramid news piece, she crafts, edits, reconsiders, and rewrites. Too often do students think one draft is sufficient. Mary Jean is not a typical student.” Mary also has volunteered in a nursing home and the Ronald McDonald House and was a member of her high school’s band and varsity cheer squad.