Two young women with a passion for journalism as well as career interests in the law are the winners of this year’s Nebraska Press Women scholarships.
The $1,000 Marianne Beel Scholarship for a high school senior goes to Elleiana Green of Omaha. The Marian High School student is manager-in-chief of Marian’s school newspaper and is a staff member and contributor to the school’s literary magazine.
In her essay describing what Nebraska means to her, Green said her home is a place where “it’s impossible to feel alone.”
The fact that Nebraska is often overlooked, means that “Nebraskans have a common ambition to prove themselves to others,” she wrote. “We put our communities on our backs and do the best we can to make them proud.”
Green plans to attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.., where she will double major in journalism and political science with a minor in Spanish. She also hopes to pursue law, with a possible goal of working as a legal correspondent for a major media outlet.
In a reference letter, one of Green’s teachers wrote: “Elleiana will work for the underdog and she will lift the spirit and soul of those who don’t seem to have a voice.”
The recommender added: “She brings me hope for the future.”
The winner of this year’s NPW $1,000 college scholarship is Kloee Sander of Lincoln, a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications where she is a straight-A student in broadcast news and journalism.
Sander was selected as a group leader for the college’s inaugural semester of the Experience Lab, a new student-led experiential learning program that will eventually be required for all students in the college.
Sander has held several internships, most recently as an Omaha World-Herald Fellow. She will intern this summer at Lincoln’s 1011 News. She also plans to study for the LSAT this summer and take the law-school entrance exam in August. Upon graduation next May, she aims to go to law school to study mass media law. She also plans to get a master’s degree in journalism or broadcasting.
One of her professors said in a letter of recommendation for Sander that “…excellence, commitment, dedication and leadership are part of Sander’s DNA.
“She believes nothing easy is worth having, and she values hard work,” the professor added. “She goes all in whenever she decides to tackle a task….She takes pride in her work, and she doesn’t do anything halfway.”
Both winners will be invited to attend the fall NPW conference.
