Attention Editors: For Immediate Release
January 6, 2011
DEF and WMDT- 47 TV Publicize Local Scholarships
The Delmarva Education Foundation (DEF) and WMDT-47 television will again partner to showcase scholarships available specifically for local residents. “Meet the Money Givers” is a series of short video segments that will air on WMDT’s news programs from January through April and then be available on DEF’s website. Each segment will describe a different scholarship, including the history, purpose, and requirements of that award. “The series helps people find money to continue their education,” said Katherine Harting, DEF’s executive director, adding, “It’s timely because January through April is prime scholarship search time for September enrollment, and the early bird catches the worm in college financial aid awards.”
Each segment will air on all three of WMDT-47’s local newscasts two days a week (one segment on Wednesday, another on Saturday). WMDT will also air the segments in a similar pattern on channel CW3. WMDT news anchor Terrence Lee hosts the series, which is designed to recognize the people who support with their time and money the educational aspirations of local students.
“This is a remarkably generous community, and this series helps make the connection between those who need scholarship money and those who have money to give,” said WMDT’s general manager, Kathleen McLain. She noted, “Running a scholarship program is work, and promoting it is even more work. That’s where WMDT and DEF can help.” (In “a previous life,” Ms. McLain was a teacher and guidance counselor.)
The “Meet the Money Givers” partnership between DEF and WMDT, which began early in 2010 with a 28-part series, grew from a shared recognition that scholarship sponsors are too often frustrated by a lack of applicants, even while a lack of funds frustrates potential students. Applicants may want to note that last year’s series remains accessible from DEF’s website at www.delmarvaed.org.
DEF is a local 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Salisbury whose mission is to improve college access and success for residents on the lower Delmarva Peninsula. Its free, searchable, online database contains information on more than 500 local-priority scholarships totaling well over a million dollars. Assistance on a wide range of topics relating to post-secondary education is available for individuals, families, and groups from DEF’s trained college access advisors. For more about DEF, see www.delmarvaed.org.
WMDT 47, headquartered in Salisbury, premiered its first television broadcast in 1980. It is one of the few privately owned stations in the country. The station has a long and impressive record of service to the community, sponsoring and supporting a large number of locally important events as well as offering internships to local students. In 2004, the station received the coveted “Service to America” award for its service to children by the National Association of Broadcasters. Always an annual winner of news and production awards, in 2006 the Station was recognized, among other awards, as having the “Best Newscast on Delmarva” by the Chesapeake Association of Broadcasters.
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