NAHJ Chicago to present scholarship checks to journalism students
The Chicago Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists is proud and excited to present three deserving journalism students of the Chicago area with a $3,000 scholarship to help fund their academic and professional dreams.
We invite our members, family, and friends of our winners to join us at our 2019 NAHJ Chicago Scholarship check presentation on September 14, 2019, at the Guaranteed Rate Field: 333 W. 35th St., Chicago, IL 60616 from 11 am -1 pm.
Join us as we celebrate three more budding journalists and encourage them to keep working hard to enrich the next generation of Latinx journalists in the United States. Please RSVP your full name by September 11, 2019. Light refreshments will be served and complimentary parking will be available in Lot D.
E-mail: nahj.chi@gmail.com to RSVP.
Meet our scholarship recipients:
Matthew Mata/Loyola University
Mata grew up in the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhood. It was his upbringing in such culturally rich communities which inspired him to seek a career in journalism. He wants to illustrate the true narratives of those community and of Chicago as a whole. Mata wants to focus on politics because he believes that he can serve as a mediator to facilitate and ensure public service. As a gay Latino, Mata says he grew up ashamed of who he was. As a journalist, he says he will be able to ensure that identity and those feelings of liberation and opportunity are both protected and accessible to all Chicagoans.
Erica Carbajal/ Depaul University
Carbajal is aware that the industry of journalism is drastically changing across all fields. However, she is committed to becoming a reporter to pursue the truth. Her goal is to tell those compelling stories of the Spanish-speaking community that are often overlooked in English-language media. Those include, she says, environmental injustices; and the key is to localize those issues to make sure the community, regardless of age, race or gender, can identify with that issue.
Jose Zepeda/ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Zepeda believes that there’s a need to tell the truth. In today’s political climate, it is often twisted and turned until it is distorted. He says it is important to have Latinos in the newsroom to better report the truths of our community. Often times, those problems, situations, and events, are reported with the wrong and negative angle. He wants to be a part of the newsroom to be a truthful voice for the Latino community.
