University News
Dameris Bagwell Scholarship To Be Awarded Sept. 22
September 11, 2012
MACOMB, IL - - The Dameris Bagwell Scholarship will be awarded at Western Illinois University's chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ-WIU) banquet Saturday, Sept. 22. The banquet runs from noon-2pm in the University Union Lamoine Room.
Bagwell, who was vice president of NABJ-WIU, helped organize the Western chapter during the Spring 2008 semester. The 21-year-old Bloomington (IL) native was killed in a traffic accident Dec. 1, 2008, while traveling back to WIU. She graduated posthumously in May 2009; Bagwell's parents, the Rev. Darrell and Beverly Bagwell, and her brother, D.J. Bagwell, accepted her diploma.
In addition to her role with NABJ-WIU, Bagwell was minoring in broadcasting, was a minority student ambassador, was a peer educator for the Beu Health Center and was a member of Western's Student Orientation Staff. She also wrote for the Western Courier, the student-run campus newspaper.
Criteria for the Dameris Bagwell Scholarship were established to uphold her outstanding academic and extracurricular accomplishments, according to WIU Journalism Department Director Professor Mohammad Siddiqi.
"Dameris was a force in the classroom and on campus," said Siddiqi. "The criteria faculty set for the scholarship reflect that."
Minority students applying for the Dameris Bagwell Scholarship must be a sophomore or upper-class journalism major or minor with a minimum 3.0 grade point average and be active in at least one professional student organization.
"Dameris was a stellar student, very proficient and well accomplished in her field. She was an excellent writer who often helped other students with their work," said English and Journalism Professor Pearlie Strother-Adams. "In Dameris, I saw the potential of a true scholar, for she was able to conceptualize theory in a manner that was of graduate student capability, and all of her papers were well written and theory based."
For more information, contact Clara Carrigan, journalism program secretary, at (309) 298-1216 or email CM-Carrigan@wiu.edu.
Posted By: Alisha Looney (AA-Looney@wiu.edu)
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