Shayla Farrow, from Stamford, is a junior at Howard University. She applied for the 2018 CTSPJ scholarship and received an award of $2,500. The deadline for the 2019 entries is May 1.

My first semester since winning the CTSPJ student scholarship

Entering my junior year of college brought on many questions and concerns for me. I was no longer an underclassman and I wondered what new responsibilities and challenges I would have to face. Being awarded the $2,500 Bob Eddy Scholarship from Connecticut’s Society of Professional Journalists also elicited a desire for me to do well.

I wanted CTSPJ members to know that they didn’t make a mistake in choosing me to be a scholarship recipient. So, I decided that I would work as hard as possible to make sure I had a successful first semester of junior year.

All of my friends who were upperclassmen warned me that junior year is when the difficulties of college really set in, but I knew I could not let these things cause me to lose focus of the bigger picture.

During my first semester as a junior, I’ve had some monumental achievements in my professional career. I was able to interview movie director, Malcolm D. Lee, and speak about his path to becoming a director and his recent works. This was a dream come true for me because I would have never imagined being able to interview a director, especially before graduating college.

In addition to my big interview, I had my first story published on the Howard University News Service. This semester allowed me to enhance my skills as a writer and even as a photographer. I was enrolled in a “Multimedia Storytelling” course that required me to write a new story and interview people every week. I also took a course in visual communication that focused on using pictures and images to capture a story. `

I was able to finish my semester strong and make the Dean’s List. By the end of the semester, my fears were out of the window and I was looking forward to what next semester would have in store for me.

As a new semester begins, I look forward to new classes, new stories to cover, and new opportunities with my internship at WHUR-FM. I am hopeful that this new semester will be just as good as or even better than the one before!

I encourage other journalism students to apply for this scholarship and not miss out on a great opportunity. The award goes far beyond money and it allows students to connect with some of the best journalists Connecticut has to offer!