Fordham College at Rose Hill senior Meredith Engel was awarded the 2007-2008 Edward A. Walsh Scholarship at a luncheon on Oct. 23.
Engel, editor-in-chief of the student newspaperThe Ram, was the 16th recipient of the award. The scholarship is given annually to a student who embodies the spirit of Walsh, who was Fordham’s Patterson Professor of Journalism and a longtime faculty advisor to The Ram.
“I feel like I’m at the Oscars,” said Engel, who was toasted by Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D., dean of FCRH, and two of Walsh’s students. “I know that the world of communications is vast and that the skills I’ve learned in this major will be useful no matter which career path I follow.”
Engel, who rose quickly through ranks at The Ram from writer to assistant news editor to executive board member to editor-in-chief, recounted her childhood as a “bookworm,” and as someone who “wanted to leave my mark on the world of communications.” She said that an internship at Comcast Networks in advertising sales this summer opened her eyes to the myriad of career possibilities in the field.
O’Donnell lauded Engel not only for her community and newspaper work, but for her “absolutely gaudy GPA” of 3.91 and her induction into Phi Beta Kappa.
“To be in her presence for even a few minutes is to see that she has what it takes to thrive in the world she’ll be entering next year,” he said. “It won’t take her long to rise to the very top in whatever she chooses to do.”
Former students of Walsh created the scholarship and many attend the annual luncheon. The scholarship is one of the University’s highest awarded to a senior majoring in communication and media studies.
In attendance were four former editors of The Ram, including former Walsh students and scholarship committee members Warren Spellman (FRCH ’56) and Frank Corbin (FCRH ’50).
Corbin said that his mentor Walsh would have been “pleased” to present the award to Engel.
“Ed Walsh left us with a wonderful maxim that is the synthesis of communications,” he told Engel. “It’s keep in touch.”
Engel is also the winner of the 2007 New York Women in Communications Foundation scholarship for excellence in communications. In addition to Comcast Networks, Engel has interned at ABC News Good Morning America and Hunter Public Relations.
