NORTHAMPTON — Two high school graduates who have demonstrated an academic interest in journalism and communications will receive Daily Hampshire Gazette scholarships to help pay their expenses for their first year in college.
Alyssa Moreau, of Huntington, and Yasunari Watanabe, of Amherst, both 18, were selected by their schools, Northampton High School and Amherst Regional High School, respectively, and each received a scholarship worth $500.
Students who expressed an academic interest in journalism or communications, demonstrated financial need and were in the top 50 percent of their graduating class were eligible for consideration.
“Although the monetary sum is not great, I hope it’s an inspiration to the students that people already in the field of journalism want to shepherd in the new generation,” said Laurel Gardner, director of the Gazette’s Newspaper in Education program.
In the fall, Moreau will attend Clark University in Worcester to study journalism and communications. Moreau also plans to play soccer and explore opportunities related to news broadcasting, such as participating in the Clark Cable Network — an on-campus television and film production club.
Moreau’s interest in the news was sparked this year after taking a journalism class at her high school, she said in an interview.
“I don’t know if I see myself being a journalist (full time), but I like the idea of knowing what’s going on — basically being up to date,” Moreau said.
But if she does decide to pursue the profession, Moreau said her dream job would be working as an anchor or reporter for a national network.
“I’m going to work hard and just follow what I want,” she said.
Watanabe said pursuing journalism in high school at first was something to occupy his time — but then he realized it meant more for him. He even led the efforts to launch his school newspaper, the Graphic, online last year, he said.
“Working on the web development part of the paper intrigued me a lot,” Watanabe said.
Watanabe will attend Yale-NUS College in Singapore where he said he hopes to become involved with the campus newspaper, the Octant.
As for his aim in the professional world?
“I like to write. Talking to people, learning their stories, and using my writing to connect the dots to convey those stories, is something I really enjoyed while writing for my high school paper,” he said in an email. “In that sense, a reporter might be the right path for me.”
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.