JMC gains two new endowed scholarships
Fifty-one students won a record-setting $64,000 in endowed scholarships and gifts and were honored at JMC’s annual Scholarship and Awards Ceremony during Student Success Week.
The ceremony enabled JMC scholarship recipients to spend the evening with the generous donors who made their scholarships possible. JMC donors reflect the diversity of the JMC family itself: alumni, faculty, parents, siblings and friends of former students, JMC Professional Advisory Board members, and members of the media and industry. "We are here to celebrate the donors whose generosity has made it possible for many of the students in this room to remain in school," JMC Director Thor Wasbotten told dinner guests.
The 51 student recipients represent about five percent of JMC’s student body – “the students who have worked so hard to become eligible for a scholarship,” Wasbotten explained.
New Scholarships
The occasion was highlighted by the announcement of two new endowed scholarships: one given by JMC alumna and CNN anchor Carol Costello and her husband, Dr. Timothy Law Synder; and the new CCI Study Abroad Scholarship, given by JMC Professor Gary Hanson and CCI Associate Dean LuEtt Hanson.
Costello surprised students with a videotaped message from CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. She recalled her own background as a financially strapped student from Minerva, Ohio. Being able to earn a degree with the help of others inspired Costello and Dr. Snyder to endow a fund for students “who yearn to attend but are struggling financially.”
The Hansons interact with students daily as educators, and for the past six years they have generously endowed a scholarship in memory of their fathers, Lloyd W. Hanson and Harvey E. Rahn, which so far has supported five promising JMC students. “These students have told us the scholarship made a difference to them,” Professor Hanson told dinner guests. “The scholarship recipients here tonight are the cream of the crop, but there is a lot more cream out there. We believe strongly in the concept of giving back. What better way to give back than to these bright and talented students? This scholarship is recognition of our faith in their potential.”
Dean Hanson agreed with the importance of giving back. “Giving a scholarship is my way of paying forward and paying back. The scholarship pays back faculty by bringing smart students into their classrooms and it pays forward by empowering students to achieve their dreams.”
For the past three years, the Hansons have led students on international storytelling expeditions, most recently to Brazil, and the new scholarship will enable more students to study abroad.
The Hansons invited other members of the JMC family to contribute to the scholarship.
During the evening, Wasbotten shared highlights of JMC’s “most award-winning year ever,” which included a record-setting five top-10 placements in the William Randolph Hearst Journalism Awards, the most winning year in history for the Photojournalism Program, an impressive 24 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence awards, a finalist berth for PR students in PRSSA’s Bateman case study competition and a top 10 finish for a student advertising team in the national Collegiate Effie Awards.