By Phil Kaplan
APSE is now awarding six scholarships, increasing their commitment in 2021 to collegiate sports journalists. And for the first time, two scholarships are being awarded to students attending historically Black colleges and universities.
Lulu Kesin, who will be a junior at UMass, is awarded the Jack Berninger Scholarship; Emily Leiker, a senior at Missouri, will receive the Roy Hewitt Scholarship; Kyle Pinnell, a sophomore at Missouri, is awarded the Tim Wheatley Scholarship; Caroline Pineda, a senior at Notre Dame, will receive the Joe Sullivan Scholarship; and Derrian Carter, a graduate of Clark Atlanta University and a graduate student at Arizona State, along with Shakim Muhafiz, a senior at Morehouse, are the first two recipients of the Garry D. Howard Scholarship.
The scholarships are $1,250 apiece and are awarded based on the quality of the journalism, academic record and need. The scholarship was established in 2007 by then APSE president Mike Fannin. All six winners will also be given APSE student memberships.
Both scholarships for students at HBCUs are named in honor of former APSE president Garry D. Howard.
Ulice Payne Jr., the former president of the Milwaukee Brewers, a member of Marquette’s 1977 NCAA men’s basketball championship team and a longtime friend of Howard, has donated $2,500 to match the Garry D. Howard Scholarship the first two years. Under this scenario, APSE will be able to select two winners this year and offer scholarships to each. Next year, APSE will again select two winners, from HBCU institutions, for the Garry D. Howard Scholarship, thanks to Payne’s contribution.
Kesin is the sports editor of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian and is majoring in sports journalism and communications.
For Kesin, classes at UMass were virtual during the school year and there were no fall sports, creating an even bigger disconnect between writers and athletes.
“It worked out in the end,” said Kesin. “It felt great we were able to write stories without any regular sports happening in the fall.”
Leiker is spending this summer at USA TODAY as a summer intern through AWSM. Last fall she covered prep football for the Columbia Missourian, staffed by Missouri School of Journalism students and in the spring switched to Missouri football.
Leiker finished fourth in explanatory in the APSE writing contest in Category D for work done during her summer internship in 2020 at the News and Observer. She was grateful to do the internship on site despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Getting to work at the News and Observer and cover just not sports, but issues related to Black Lives Matter and coronavirus made it more rewarding,” said Leiker, who will be APSE school chapter president for the second year in a row as well as ASWM school chapter president.
Pinnell will be the sports editor of Maneater, the school-run newspaper after spending last spring as the assistant.
He has been working this summer for Rose City Review, a website dedicated to the Portland Timbers of the MLS, as well as freelance coverage for The Oregonian.
Pinnell was new on campus last fall and had to learn quickly how to cover athletics at Missouri during a pandemic when media opportunities were not in person.
“Working with a sports information department as a college freshman was a great experience,” said Pinnell.
Pineda has spent the summer as an intern at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She is a film and television major and a journalism minor. She will be the managing editor of Scholastic, the student news magazine this year after serving as sports editor.
Among the many other media roles Pineda has had are stringer for The Associated Press, Notre Dame sideline reporter for ESPN+ during regular-season games and Peacock for the spring game, and freelancer for NBC Sports’ Inside the Irish as well as Fighting Irish Media.
Pineda enjoyed learning new ways to create stories despite Zoom availability.
“It was a unique challenge to tell the stories,” said Pineda.
Carter has spent the summer as an intern for Front Office Sports through an NABJ fellowship. He will be a graduate student at Arizona State’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.
He was co-editor of The CAU Panther, the school newspaper, his senior year. Clark canceled sports in the fall and Carter and his reporters “had to become creative on how we covered sports.”
Muhafiz has started work as a communications assistant with the Atlanta Falcons as an intern. He’ll also continue his role as a Grassroots Marketing Street Team Ambassador with the NFL team.
He is the sports editor of the Maroon Tiger, the student-led news organization. Morehouse did not play football or basketball during the school year, but Muhafiz was able to staff the NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta.
“It was tough,” Muhafiz said coming up with sports coverage. “We tried to do things like player profiles.”
Members of the APSE Scholarship committee are Eric Kolenich of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Naila Meyers of the Star Tribune, David Rivera of The Record, Josh Capers of The Clarion Ledger, Reina Kempt of the Louisville Courier-Journal, Carlos Silva of Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, and Phil Kaplan of the South Region of USA TODAY Network.
