Scholarship: Won't you be my neighbor?

August 31, 2005

Announced yesterday, a scholarship in memory of Fred�Rogers was given to its inaugural recipient.

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Fred Rogers is better known as cardigan-wearing Mister Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, of which so many of us grew. Rogers produced and hosted the acclaimed PBS children’s program, which is the longest-running program on public television.�

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The first recipient of the scholarship is Michelle Lyn Banta, a graduate student at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. She received $10,000 to support her study in children’s media and further “the values and principles of Rogers’ work,” the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said. The TV academy established the Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarship with funding from Ernst & Young LLP.

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According to AP, the UCLA film student’s selection was announced Tuesday at a ceremony attended by Rogers’ widow, Joanne Rogers. Rogers died of cancer in 2003 at age 74.

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Banta also will have the opportunity to work with a mentor from the academy’s children’s programming group during the school year.

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Banta, you better do well — and do good. Earn this scholarship.

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DRB