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Scholarship Ceremony Honors UM’s Best and Brightest


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    Black Student Scholarship Reception

    UM President Donna E. Shalala with proud scholarship recipients.

    A grimacing disabled athlete on a recumbent bicycle crossing the finish line at Miami’s ING Marathon. High school baton twirlers demonstrating athleticism and skill at a Martin Luther King Jr. parade. The Brooklyn Bridge at midday, its support cables reaching upward and outward like a spider’s web. And a commuter gazing out the window of a New York City bus.

    Monica Herndon, who has photographed such images and many more, likes to wake up in the morning not knowing what story she’ll tell that day with her camera. But the 20-year-old University of Miami junior is certain of one thing: She has enjoyed photography ever since she was 7 years old and used to pick up her father’s unloaded camera, pretending to take pictures as she scampered about her Annapolis, Maryland, home.

    UM students Brian Malcolm and Monica Herndon are honored at the 2013 Black Student Scholarship Reception, held at UM's Newman Alumni Center.

    UM students Brian Malcolm and Monica Herndon are honored at the 2013 Black Student Scholarship Reception, held at UM’s Newman Alumni Center.

    Now, a $10,000 scholarship from UM’s Woodson Williams Marshall Association will help Herndon move a step closer to realizing her dream of being a professional photojournalist. Herndon received the award on March 21 at UM’s 2013 Black Student Scholarship Reception. She was among several students who received awards at the event.

    “Winning this scholarship made me realize that there are people out there who believe in me and the work that I’m doing,” said Herndon, who is majoring in visual journalism and studio art and serves as the assistant photo editor for The Miami Hurricane student newspaper. “It pushes me to work harder and be the best photographer I can be.”

    More than $60,000 in scholarships were awarded at the reception, from $500 Robert Moore book stipends to a $10,000 UM Black Alumni Society scholarship that went to Brian Malcolm, a human and social development major from Miami’s Liberty City, who said receiving such support will allow him “to continue to excel in and out of the classroom” as well as “gain experiences that will prepare me for a competitive career in the workforce.”

    Malcolm tutors students at Ponce De Leon Middle School and serves as a mentor in a UM School of Education and Human Development initiative that enhances academic skills and cultural awareness of black students in Miami-Dade County. He plans to enroll in graduate school and eventually would like to become a college professor or student affairs administrator.

    For Herndon, it’s a career in photojournalism. She especially likes newspapers, having been inspired by her father, Craig, a former Washington Post photographer. On occasion he would take Herndon along on assignments.

    Certain photos he took are etched in her memory, like the one of a disabled young man being bathed by his mother. “I just knew that it was a picture my dad could take only by having gained their trust,” Herndon said.

    She speaks with her father almost daily. “I can call him whenever I need help, whether it’s trying to figure out what story I’m trying to tell with my photos or why I took a bad photo. He’s always there to teach.”

     

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