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Scholarships
August 2004

About the AAJA Texas 2004 scholarship recipients

ABHA BHATTARAI

When I told my uncle that I planned on majoring in journalism, he looked at me for a second and then asked, "So you're going to be living off of your parents for the rest of your life?"

In a family of engineers and doctors, my decision to major in something that's not as "technical" or as financially promising as the usual course of action is something that's looked upon with confusion. Even my cousins who have majored in anthropology or English have gone on to medical school or law school.

I joined my school's journalism program as a seventh grader because I loved to write. I was shy and a bit weary at first and wrote the stories assigned to me without much personal involvement. I simply did the interviews and wrote the stories.

But when I became involved with newspaper in high school, everything changed. I became more attuned to my position as a student journalist and most interested with what I covered. At the end of my sophomore year, I won the Tops in Texas Feature Writing Award for an article I wrote about a teenage mother's decision to give her child up for adoption.

At first, it seemed a bit out of the "comfort zone" I'd created for myself in high school to be spending so much time interviewing a student about such a sensitive issue, but as our interviews evolved into conversations and as I became familiar with her story, I began to love reporting and it became a passion for me.

As an intern for the Austin American-Statesman, the Kathmandu Post, and more recently, for a smaller community paper, I've had the chance to experience every aspect of journalism from writing to copyediting and graphics. As a reporter and editor in chief of our school newspaper, I've also become adept at many different aspects of newspaper writing and layout, and each aspect of journalism holds a different kind of charm for me.

With help and encouragement from organizations like the Texas Chapter of AAJA, I've realized that I can be successful doing what I love. Through AAJA, I've also become increasingly aware of the significance that we, as journalists, have to the Asian American community. Through my writing, I have the opportunity to bring overlooked Asian American issues to the forefront. And that,to me, is the most exciting part of being a journalist.

 

 

RUTH LIAO

Ruth Liao will be a junior major in print journalism this fall at the University of Texas at Austin. Her first interest in journalism began in elementary school, writing for The Fifth Grade Chronicles about kickball games and school band concerts. She has found AAJA to be a life support for a journalism student through its endless network of resources and active programs through its chapters.

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