Three Press Club Scholarship Students Graduate

Tamica Jean-Charles, Florida International University-Miami

Great news! Tamica applied for and received an internship with the Richmond-Times Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, following her recent graduation from FIU-Miami. The internship will be for approximately six months, and she’ll be able to cover breaking news stories, along with other assignments. Her future plans beyond that are indefinite at this time, but she’s open to applying for other internships and she doesn’t mind moving somewhere else.

Tamica is proud of the third-place FIU Student Media Panthernow Award she recently received. She said that she learned a lot from the FIU Panther editor, which has helped her focus better and concentrate on doing the best she can do in her writing and reporting.

She loved the 2020 AP Stylebook, the Press Club Scholarship Committee’s traditional gift to our graduating scholarship students, especially the fact that the Stylebook already has a section on coronavirus.

Lauren Meceli, Florida Gulf Coast University

Lauren currently works at WINK News as a morning production assistant, the person behind the cameras filming the anchors. She also does audio, her favorite, and puts some graphics on the air. Her future plans are indefinite at this time. She would like to continue her education and work on a Master’s degree, but only if she can attend classes in person; she feels that she learns poorly online.

She, too, loves her 2020 AP Stylebook gift. She had borrowed copies at FGCU in the past, and now has her very own copy.

Maria Munguia-Cortes, Wartburg College, Iowa

Maria’s former internship at Lipman Family Farms has turned into her first job, as a management trainee, working with the Director of Strategy in community development. She helps expand community relations across all Lipman locations in the country. Maria also works with their brand and does most of the internal communication and design work.

In May 2020, Maria asked me to help her with contacts to publicize the Immokalee High School Senior Parade on May 22.  I gave her the names and contact information of several Press Club media people, and she was able to give good coverage from naplesnews.com, fox4now.com and winknews.com. She wants to thank all who helped her get that great media coverage.

Maria is also appreciative of the 2020 AP Stylebook gift, which she intends to keep on her desk and use on a regular basis.

All of us at the Press Club of Southwest Florida offer our warmest congratulations to Tamica, Lauren, and Maria. We wish them well as they pursue their passion for journalism and the importance of the free press. We want them to know that as graduating scholarship students, they will always receive the support of all of us in the press club.