FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Gaby Cruz of Springdale, a broadcast journalism major at the University of Arkansas, is one of 10 students nationwide to be awarded a scholarship from the inaugural National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation Scholars Program.

The Scholars Program is designed to enable outstanding communications students from diverse backgrounds to complete their undergraduate degree and begin careers in broadcasting. It provides scholarships to communications students with financial need beginning in their junior year and continuing through their senior year.

Cruz, a junior this fall in the Walter J. Lemke department of journalism in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, will receive $10,000 per year for her last two years of college.

Cruz said she cried when she got the news. “To me, it was such an accomplishment, because I’ve worked hard before and never gotten any recognition, but this was something where I worked very hard and then to get something like this — I was really happy, and very emotional,” she said.

Cruz began working toward a career in broadcasting when she was still in high school, as one of the first students to take part in the Lemke Journalism Project, a high school journalism program sponsored by the UA journalism department.

"Gaby was one of the most enthusiastic students in the program," said Katherine Shurlds, director of the Lemke Journalism Project. "She participated all three years she was eligible in high school and even came back during her first year at Northwest Arkansas Community College."

Shurlds said Cruz was also active in the broadcast program at Springdale High School and was one of the first Latinas to anchor a program there.

The Scholars Program award is also an honor for the University of Arkansas and its journalism department. The National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation selected 10 schools, based on the quality of their communications programs and on regional distribution. Each communications school or department selected a student who is a woman or person of color to receive the scholarship, based not only on financial need, but also on the student’s demonstrated ability and promise. The students chosen had to be broadcast majors who have at least a 2.0 grade point average and maintain it during the scholarship period.

The other nine universities receiving scholarships for a deserving student from their school are Bowling Green State University, Brigham Young University, Murray State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Alaska at Anchorage, University of Florida at Gainesville, University of Nevada at Reno, University of Southern California and University of Texas at Austin.

The scholarship money will be paid directly to the school to support the cost of attendance for the student selected and can only be used for that purpose. As part of the scholarship, the student will perform an internship at a licensed radio or television station.

 The broadcasters foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the public interest in supporting and advocating education and training programs, strategies to increase diversity, initiatives stressing the importance of the First Amendment, community service, philanthropy, and other timely broadcasting issues.