Benson

ERIC BENSON SCHOLARSHIP
Eric Benson’s pas­sion was jour­nal­ism – in all its forms. By the time he grad­u­ated from Alameda Senior High School in 1991, he had served four years on the Paragon news­pa­per as reporter, sports edi­tor and editor-in-chief. He won local and state awards for his writ­ing, served his Scout Troop nation­ally and inter­na­tion­ally as a scribe and was an Eagle Scout. In high school he let­tered in golf and base­ball. Eric started piano lessons in first grade and con­tin­ued to play through his ill­ness. His favorite was clas­si­cal music except for “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Eric’s goal was always to be a jour­nal­ist and he received a jour­nal­ism schol­ar­ship to Indi­ana Uni­ver­sity. It was not to be. He became ill with a rare can­cer, Ewing’s Sar­coma, his senior year and died three years later. This schol­ar­ship was estab­lished by his teach­ers, par­ents and friends in his mem­ory. CHSPA took over admin­is­ter­ing this schol­ar­ship in 2009-10.

The Eric Ben­son Schol­ar­ship oppor­tu­nity is offered to any Col­orado high school senior whose school is a mem­ber of the Col­orado High School Press Asso­ci­a­tion. It is a one-time award of $600. In addi­tion, this schol­ar­ship car­ries a need-based cri­te­ria as well as jour­nal­ism expe­ri­ences. The schol­ar­ship must be claimed within two years of grad­u­at­ing from high school or it is forfeited.

Eli­gi­bil­ity: Any Col­orado high school senior who has worked on  a Col­orado High School Press Asso­ci­a­tion (CHSPA) mem­ber stu­dent medium for at least two years and is plan­ning to attend a junior col­lege, col­lege or uni­ver­sity is eli­gi­ble to apply. Appli­cants must demon­strate a finan­cial need and intel­lec­tual capacity.

If you would like to down­load the PDF of the appli­ca­tion form, click here.

Past win­ners (CHSPA part­ner­ship with this schol­ar­ship began in 2010)
2012   Nikki Sher­rill, Wind­sor HS
2011   Jor­dan Fricke, Engle­wood HS
2010   Heidi Gru­ber, Hotchkiss HS