NJPF Scholarship Programs

The New Jersey Press Foundation sponsors the following scholarship programs for high school and college students and an internship program for a high school newspaper adviser:

Isaac Roth Newspaper Carrier Scholarship Program for high school and college students who deliver New Jersey newspapers or whose parents are newspaper carriers

Bernard Kilgore Memorial Scholarship to be awarded to the 2009 New Jersey High School Journalist of the Year

Teachers at Newspapers Program, a summer internship program for a high school journalism teacher / school newspaper adviser

Richard Drukker Memorial Scholarship Program for a journalism student at Montclair State University

The 2008 Bernard Kilgore Memorial Scholarship
Awarded to Senior at Verona High School

Andrea Krushefski, a senior at Verona High School, has been named the 2007 New Jersey High School Journalist of the Year by the Garden State Scholastic Press Association and will receive the Bernard Kilgore Memorial Scholarship from the New Jersey Press Foundation.

She will be awarded the $5,000 Kilgore scholarship when she begins her college communications studies in September at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

Also, Krushefski was entered in the Journalism Education Association's competition for the 2008 National High School Journalist of the Year.

She was honored by NJPF at the New Jersey Press Association's editorial awards banquet on April 3 in Trenton. She is the daughter of Lori Ann Krushefski (at left in photo) and was accompanied at the awards banquet by her grandparents Carol and Chet Krushefski.

Eleven New Jersey high school students were nominated by their high school journalism teachers for the 2008 Kilgore scholarship competition.

The family of Bernard Kilgore, former chairman of the board of Dow Jones and Company, Inc., and The Princeton Packet, created this memorial scholarship fund with the New Jersey Newspaper Foundation in 2000 when Kilgore was named Business Journalist of the 20th Century.

The following students received previous Kilgore scholarships from NJPF.

Emily Laermer, who graduated in 2007 from West Windsor Plainsboro High School, received the 2007 Kilgore Scholarship. She is enrolled at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

Megan DeMarco, who graduated in June 2006 from East Brunswick High School, received the 2006 Kilgore scholarship. She is enrolled at The College of New Jersey.

Mark Milian, who graduated in June 2005 from Pascack Hills High School in Montvale, Bergen County, received the 2005 Kilgore scholarship. He is enrolled as a journalism major at the University of Maryland.

Heather Collura of Landing received the 2004 Bernard Kilgore Memorial Scholarship. She is enrolled as a journalism major at Syracuse University.

Miriam Bamberger of Scotch Plains received the 2003 Kilgore scholarship. She was a journalism major at George Washington University.

Erin Baer, who attended New York University as a journalism major, received the 2002 Kilgore Scholarship. She is a resident of Scotch Plains.

The recipient of the 2001 Kilgore scholarship was Alison Jordan of Nutley. She studied journalism at Boston University.

Foundation Announces 2009 Bernard Kilgore Memorial Scholarship Competition

New Jersey high school student journalists are invited to apply for the 2008 Bernard Kilgore Memorial Scholarship on or before February 15, 2009.

Click here for an application form.

The scholarship recipient will be named the 2009 New Jersey High School Journalist of the Year, a program operated by the Garden State Scholastic Press Association. The student will automatically be entered in a competition for the National High School Journalist of the Year sponsored by the Journalism Education Association.

Application forms for the 2009 Bernard Kilgore Memorial Scholarship will be mailed to New Jersey high school journalism teachers and editors of New Jersey newspapers in December and January. An online application form also is available on the Web site of the Garden State Scholastic Press Association. That Web site also offers instructions on how to assemble an effective application portfolio.

Selection criteria include the student's intent to major in journalism in college.

Nominations may be made by high school journalism teachers and school newspaper advisers or by New Jersey's professional newspaper editors. Teachers must be members of GSSPA in order for the selected student to be entered in the national awards competition. Recommendations from professional newspaper editors are encouraged. Nominees must include at least three letters of recommendations with their applications.

Because applicants must have at least a 3.0 grade point average out of a 4.0, a current high school transcript must be enclosed with the application package.

The application must include a least three samples of writing published in the high school or community newspaper. Applicants must have at least two years of experience on their high school newspaper.

The family of Bernard Kilgore, former chairman of the board of Dow Jones and Company, Inc., and The Princeton Packet, created this memorial scholarship fund with the New Jersey Press Foundation in 2000 when Kilgore was named Business Journalist of the 20th Century. For more information about Bernard Kilgore, click here.

For more information about the Kilgore Memorial Scholarship Fund or to establish similar scholarship funds, call the Foundation at (609) 406-0600, ext. 19.

Teachers at Newspapers Program

A Summer Internship Program
for High School Journalism Teachers and School Newspaper Advisers

Charles Zimmerman, the journalism teacher at Pemberton Township High School in Burlington County, has been named the New Jersey Press Foundation’s high school teacher intern for 2008.

Zimmerman will begin his internship at the Burlington County Times at the end of the current school year.

NJPF has recommended that his time at the paper be divided among assignments with the Newspaper in Education program, the paper’s teen section “The Voice” and general newsroom duties.

Zimmerman, who lives in Turnersville, advises The Stinger, the school paper at Pemberton Township High School. He is a member of the Garden State Scholastic Press Association.

The Teachers at Newspapers Program is designed to provide teachers with a fresh perspective on newspapers today so they can transmit to their students the variety of opportunities, the excitement they engender and the skills students can bring to a newspaper and its readers.

The start of the internship will take into account the teacher's planned vacation time. The teacher selected will be paid a salary of $500 a week for four weeks of work at a New Jersey daily or weekly newspaper.

For a PDF version of the application form and details about the 2009 Teachers at Newspapers Program, click here.

Eligibility

Teachers must have at least three years of experience as a journalism teacher or adviser to a high school newspaper. The school administration must agree that the teacher will return to journalism teaching / advising or will start or resume a high school newspaper following the internship.

Teachers Design the Internship Experience

The internships involve a short orientation program and overview of the management and operation of the sponsoring newspaper. The orientation period is followed by work with the newspaper's teen or youth page/section or with the newspaper's Newspaper in Education program.

The teacher who is selected will be asked to write a letter to describe the type of experience she or he feels will best help the school's journalism program and school newspaper.

This program was proposed by members of the Editorial Committee of the New Jersey Press Association in an effort to support high school newspapers and encourage young people to consider careers in journalism.

Past Participants:

Tom McHale, who teaches journalism and advises The Lamp at Hunterdon Central Regional High School, completed a summer internship at the  Hunterdon  County Democrat, Flemington, through the New Jersey Press Foundation's 2007 Teachers at Newspapers Program.

Steve Merkel, the journalism teacher and newspaper adviser at Holy Cross High School in Delran, completed a summer internship at the  Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, in 2006.

 John D'Agostino, journalism teacher at Millville Senior High School, worked for The Press of Atlantic City as a paid intern during the summer of 2005.

Gary Pankiewicz, journallism teacher at Hasbrouck Heights Junior/Senior High School, was the 2004 intern through the Teachers at Newspapers Program. He worked for The Record (Bergen County) as a paid intern during the summer of 2004.

Venise Grossmann, journalism teacher at West Deptford High School, was the 2003 intern. She worked for the Courier Post, Cherry Hill, as a paid intern during the summer of 2003.

Gregory Gagliardi, journalism teacher at Cherry Hill East High School, worked for the Courier Post, Cherry Hill, as a paid intern during the summer of 2002.

Three New Jersey high school journalism teachers were selected through the first Teachers at Newspapers Program in 2001. They are:

- Catherine Hoffman, Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, Scotch Plains; she interned at Suburban Trends, Kinellon

- Sharyn Kreisler, Montgomery High School, Skillman; she interned at The Times of Trenton

- Stephen Porcello, West Milford Township High School; he interned at The Record of Bergen County.

The Richard Drukker Memorial Scholarship

Kristie Cattafi of Lodi was selected to receive the 2008 Richard Drukker Memorial Scholarship and will be presented a scholarship at a special ceremony at the college on April 30, 2008. Eight Montclair State students applied for the 2008 scholarship.

This endowed scholarship, valued at $2,000, was created by the family of Richard Drukker, former publisher of the Passaic Herald News. Proceeds from the endowment are reserved for scholarships for Montclair State University journalism students.

The next application deadline is February 28, 2009.  Click here to retrieve a PDF version of the application form and instructions about how to apply for the scholarship.

Students who are unable to retrieve the application from the NJPF Web site ( www.njpressfoundation.org ) are invited to request a printed copy of the form well before the application deadline. Those requests can be addressed to: NJPF Scholarship Programs, c/o Drukker Scholarship, Suite, 305, 840 Bear Tavern Road, West Trenton, NJ 08628-1019.  An E-mail may be sent to foundationprograms@njpa.org .

Richard Drukker helped create the New Jersey Press Foundation as a way of promoting journalism careers among talented young people in the state. As a Trustee of the foundation, he was instrumental in forging a relationship with the New York Giants football club, which contributed to the foundation a portion of its income from a pre-season game.

New Jersey Press Foundation
840 Bear Tavern Road, Suite 305
West Trenton, NJ 08628-1019
Phone 609-406-0600 – Fax 609-406-0300