Eugene Area Radio Stations Awards 2022 Scholarships
May 26, 2022
NEWS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Eugene Area Radio Stations Awards Scholarships
Eugene Area Radio Stations – EARS – a non-profit trade association comprised of all Eugene area radio stations recently awarded $10,000 in scholarships to students in Oregon. Its goal is to support students pursuing a radio career through post-secondary education.
Four (4) students were selected by EARS to receive 2021-2022 academic year scholarships, because of the student’s strong academic qualifications, current/past work at student run radio stations, community service, and their declared interests in a professional radio career.
The EARS scholarship program selects one graduating high school student and one college undergraduate student, to each receive $3,000 scholarships. Because of the strong field of applicants, EARS also selected two additional candidates to receive $2,000 scholarships.
These EARS Scholarship Awardees include: Kate Jaques Prentice, Blake Niemann, Dominick Stone, and Tor Parsons.
$3,000 College Under-Graduate Scholarship: Kate Jaques Prentice, a University of Oregon student from Eugene, Oregon, with a UO undergraduate GPA of 3.79. Jaques Prentice will be a senior at the University of Oregon this Fall, majoring in a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. In addition to her school requirements, she has worked at UO student-run KWVA 88.1 for three years. She is the staff office assistant and hosts her own two-hour weekly radio show. She is active in all aspects of front office management for the station and its listeners. EARS is pleased to support Kate Jaques Prentice as she continues to develop her radio career in the Eugene-Springfield market.
$3,000 High School Graduate Scholarship: Blake Niemann, Philomath High School graduate, Philomath Oregon, with a 4.0 GPA. This Fall term, he will be a freshman at Arizona State University, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Niemann has produced and voiced his school’s daily PA announcements for four years. He has also produced live-stream shows for home athletic games, had the opportunity to announce with the NFHS Network during the 4A Girls Basketball State Championships, as well as work alongside Mike Parker during a radio broadcast for the Corvallis Knights. Despite having Idiopathic Short Stature, Blake Niemann has been active in athletics, student government, scouting, and his church.
$2,000 College Under-Graduate Scholarship: Dominick Stone, Junior student, at Oregon Technical Institute, Klamath Falls, OR, with a 4.0 GPA. He is majoring in Embedded Systems Engineering Technology. Stone is currently the Technology Coordinator for KTEC 89.5FM, the student-run radio station at OIT and the oldest college radio station in the state of Oregon. He volunteers in the Computer Systems Engineering Technology department, mentoring perspective and newly admitted students.
$2,000 College Under-Graduate Scholarship: Tor Parsons, Junior student, at Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR. He is majoring in Rhetoric and Media Studies (communications/journalism). Parsons currently researches, writes, and narrates a weekly podcast called Tor's Cabinet of Curiosities about stranger-than-fiction true stories. he plans to focus his career on radio and/or journalism and is currently seeking more hands-on volunteer radio experience. A Eugene resident, Parsons is active in local politics, volunteered at Sacred Heart River Bend hospital, and has worked jobs ranging from summer camp counselor to commercial fisherman in Alaska.
Total investment by the Eugene Area Radio Stations in the EARS 2021 Scholarship program is $10,000 in awards. Applications for the Fall 2023 school year scholarship program will be accepted starting January 2023 and will close May 1, 2023.
A career in radio broadcasting is fun, challenging, and provides the foundation for a lifetime of community involvement. Radio is alive and growing despite the introduction of digitally delivered audio. In Lane County over 250,000 adults listen on average 14 hours a week to free, over-the-air radio every week.
Eugene Area Radio Stations is a 501(6)(C) non-profit trade association comprised of 22 commercial and public radio stations in the Eugene/Springfield/Cottage Grove/Junction City market area. Its scholarship program has awarded over $100,000 to qualifying students over the past decade. Many of the recipients have active careers in radio broadcasting.
For more information:
Peter Powell, Executive Director
ears.peter@eugeneradio.org
Cell: 541-729-2689