The Ennes Educational Foundation Trust has awarded six scholarships for 2024. The recipients were chosen from applications received by July 1, 2024, 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 $3,000.
The Harold E. Ennes Scholarship recipient is Becky Meiers, CRO, from Sitka, AK. She grew up in Tallahassee, FL, and got her first job in radio at WVFS. Her career includes working at stations KBOO, KPAM, KFFP, and KCAW, and partnered with Common Frequency and Center for International Media Action. She plans to apply the scholarship to earn a Technologist Certification through NPR Distribution and attend the APRE Conference and NAB Show in 2025. She is currently building translators running on renewable energy in Southeast Alaska.
Receiving the Robert D. Greenberg Scholarship is Krystal Holland, CBT, , from New York City, is working on her Master’s in Information Technology at Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science, specializing in networking administration. Currently, she serves as a Technical Director at Spectrum News NY1. Her career includes work for the NHL, AMC Networks, and freelance work on “Madam Secretary,” “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and “Billions.” She is a member of the SBE and the National Association of Black Journalists. Her scholarship will support her graduate studies.
The John H. Battison SBE Founder’s Scholarship has been awarded to Nicholas Reed, a senior at the University of Tennessee Knoxville studying journalism and electronic media. He has worked as a student engineer and camera operator for VFL Films productions for ESPN’s SEC Network for the past three years. He also works at Family Radio as an IT analyst, assisting with AoIP and automation software. He plans to pursue a video or radio engineer role when he graduates in May 2025.
The Gino Ricciardelli Scholarship has been awarded to Juan Pinilla, who was born in Curitiba, Brazil, to Colombian parents and moved to Barranquilla, Colombia, at the age of four. At 15 he relocated to the United States. His introduction with media technology began with the audiovisual team at his parents’ church. In ninth grade he joined his high school’s TV studio club and later joined the production team at a large Manhattan church. He is pursuing a degree in television production at The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University and works at the student-run radio station, WRHU, and Hofstra’s TV streaming network, the HEAT Network. He also freelances at an arena in Elmont, NY.
Megan Athey received the Youth Scholarship. She attends Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, where she is a film studies major. Her concentration is on learning the intricacies of film and broadcasting technology and its relation to the profession as whole.
SBE President Ted Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, ATSC3, DRB, said, “Education is one of the pillars of the SBE, and the Ennes Scholarships are just once part of our overall education efforts. The SBE encourages young people to pursue careers in broadcast and media technology, and we look forward to seeing the great progress of these five budding engineers as they expand their education and develop their careers.”
