Foster wins adviser scholarship
Pitt Media adviser Nicole Foster from Pittsburgh High School earned the 2024 Lester Benz Scholarship from Quill and Scroll.
Foster will use the money from the scholarship to attend this summer’s SNO Adviser Academy to refresh her website skills.
“Her passion for journalism and education clearly run deep and it was clear from her application that she would use what she learned at the SNO Adviser Academy to directly help her students improve their publication,” said Lori Keekley, NSPA associate director for Quill and Scroll. “Quill and Scroll is proud to name Nicole Foster as this year’s scholarship recipient.”
She said she is excited to be formally trained on using a SNO site and looks forward to bringing those skills back to her students.
“When the old editors were leaving, we just didn’t get everyone fully trained in it so we’ve all kind of fumbled through it for the last two years,” Foster said. “I know our students want to revamp it. They have goals.”
Foster oversees a wide range of media at Pittsburgh High School including a newspaper, website, yearbook, social media sites and video products. Though she worked as an English teacher and ESL coordinator before becoming a media adviser, Foster’s roots in journalism trace back to high school.
She worked as a reporter and photographer in high school and initially pursued journalism in college and was the editor of her college paper. After a few years using her journalism skills as an ESL coordinator, Foster made the move back to teaching. While working at a middle school her principal asked if she would be open to running a yearbook class and Foster readily agreed.
“I had never done yearbook before, but I knew the concepts of writing good stories, interviewing and photography, which is my love,” Foster said.
In 2022 Foster made the move to the high school and has been busy ever since. Returning to journalism as an adviser was special for Foster because journalism has been in her heart since high school, she said.
One of the things Foster enjoys most about being a media adviser is the constantly evolving nature of journalism.
“I’ve seen media churn in 30 years, and now we’re dealing with AI. In the last year I’ve been asking journalists [about AI] and they’re like, ‘see what the other journalists are doing,’” Foster said.
2025 Lester Benz Scholarship to open in February
Applications for the 2024 Lester Benz Scholarship are now closed. Applications for the 2025 scholarship will open in February 2025 and close April 11, 2025.
Quill and Scroll will award the $250 Lester G. Benz Scholarship to an adviser who undertakes a professional development activity over the summer or in the academic year. The award can be used to attend a National High School Journalism Conference, to pay for tuition for a university course in a relevant subject area, or for a summer workshop, the JEA Summer Advisers Institute or a local summer workshop in your state, to name a few.
Who is eligible?
Quill and Scroll encourages applicants who:
- Teach at a Quill and Scroll charter school (check here to see if you are and, if you’re not, how to get a charter);
- Have at least one year teaching high school journalism and/or advising publications;
- Have a minimum of one year experience teaching journalism or advising school publications;
- Plan to return to the high school classroom and media advising next year; and
- Will apply the information gained in the course work, seminar or workshop taken as a result of this scholarship.
The scholarship program’s objective is to identify and reward experienced journalism teachers and publication advisers (as defined above) who seek the opportunity to upgrade their journalism skills, teaching methodologies and advising techniques.
What’s required?
Complete the application form below this section, including the requirement that you submit two letters of recommendation from people who will attest to your journalism teaching skill, publication advising, quality of the journalistic writing course(s) you teach and the quality of the publication(s) you advise. The letters of recommendation should come from any of the following sources:
- Superintendent;
- Principal;
- Vice or Assistant Principal;
- Department Chair;
- Regional or State Scholastic Press Association Director;
- Scholastic Journalism Workshop Director;
- A faculty member of the school, college or department of journalism for whom you will take a journalism course; or
- JEA mentor, current or former.
It is the intent to select a journalism teacher/publication adviser who plans to take course work that is definitely beyond the introductory level. Descriptions of courses or workshops should be submitted with the application to help inform the scholarship committee about the plan of study. The award is named after former Quill and Scroll Executive Director Lester G. Benz.
Past winners
2023: Katherine Miller, Central Kitsap High School, Washington
2022: Sarah Nichols, Whitney High School, California
2021: Shari Chumley, Tupelo High School, Mississippi
2020: Laura Bowe, The King School, Connecticut
2019: Andrei Negri, Alief Hastings High School, Texas
Past Winners
- 2023 — Katherine Miller, Central Kitsap High School, Silverdale, Washington
- 2022 — Sarah Nichols, Whitney High School, Rocklin, California
- 2021 — Shari Chumley, Tupelo High School, Tupelo, Mississippi
- 2020 — Laura Bowe, The King School, Stamford, Connecticut
- 2019 — Andrea Negri, Alief Hastings High School, Houston, Texas
