The Ennes Educational Foundation Trust has awarded five scholarships for 2021. The recipients were chosen from applications received by July 1, 2021, from the previous 12 months.
The Harold E. Ennes Scholarship, Robert D. Greenberg Scholarship, John H. Battison Founder's Scholarship and Gino Ricciardelli Scholarship are awarded to individuals interested in continuing or beginning their education in broadcast engineering and technology. The Youth Scholarship is specifically for a graduating high school senior interested in broadcast engineering as a career. Each scholarship awarded this year is for $2,500.
SBE President Andrea Cummis, CBT, CTO, said, "As the SBE continues to encourage young people to pursue careers in broadcast and media technology, I look forward to seeing the great progress of these five engineers as they further their education goals with the assistance of the Ennes Educational Foundation Trust."
Ismail Otu, CRO, CTO, received the Harold E. Ennes Scholarship. He graduated from The Broadcasting Production Technology Program at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) in Charlotte, N.C., and interned at WTVI PBS Charlotte. Otu earned the Most Outstanding Student Award at the Student Excellence Convocation on behalf of the CPCC's broadcasting program. He plans to attend The Cleveland Institute of Electronics and major in broadcast engineering/wireless communication electronics to pursue a career in broadcast operations.
Receiving the Robert D. Greenberg Scholarship is Michael Cassara. He became involved with Wilton Public School's student-run broadcast team and turned a volunteer position into a part-time job within the team. His passion for the engineering side of television broadcast has led him to pursue a career in broadcast engineering. Cassara is now in his sophomore year of studying computer engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.
The John H. Battison SBE Founder's Scholarship has been awarded to Zachary Cameron. He is currently attending Ball State University, Muncie, Ind., studying telecommunications. His recent achievements consist of completing an overhaul and upgrade to both his high school TV mobile production carts, rebuilding and upgrading RBTV's Studio B control room, and purchasing and building a remote production pack for RBTV including field cameras, audio equipment and all necessary accessories. His goal is to become a broadcast engineer after graduation.
The Gino Ricciardelli Scholarship has been awarded to Christopher Gamelin. Six years ago, he set a goal to work in broadcasting, making sure stations were operating properly, fixing equipment and doing some production. He left iHeartradio, moving to Entercom Communications and gained knowledge in broadcast engineering, production and remote broadcast setups. Gamelin was offered the job of maintenance technician at WFSB where he has more opportunities to grow and already has met goals of becoming a drone operator, working on remote broadcasts and expanding his electronics knowledge.
Meredith Frank received the Youth Scholarship. In high school, Frank was known as the "go-to video producer" with production talents that allowed her to spend two years as the director of her school's annual charity reality show competition, “Senior Survivor.” During the pandemic, Frank was able to produce the show's episodes from home, leading to a charity total of more than $50,000, and a record-breaking $229,000 during the in-person 2021 competition. She will be pursuing her passion for live TV production by moving from her small Midwest town to New York's Hofstra University, where she will earn a degree in television production & studies.
