A newly established scholarship for students who pursue degrees at the intersection of journalism and computers has been awarded to a Berkeley graduate student for her innovative project to connect children to journalism. Beatrice Katcher, a student at the Graduate School of Journalism, is one of only two winners of this year’s AP-Google Journalism and Technology Scholarship Program, which provides $7,500 funding for 2014-15 academic year. “Winning this award is incredible,” says Katcher, “I found out I won when I was at my internship at Autodesk and I did a happy dance in the lobby.” Katcher, a mother of two, fell in love with journalism at a young age. Growing up, she often revisited the past with her grandfather through family photos. At age seven, she interviewed him for her aunt’s cable access show. “I fell in love with journalism then and I wanted to pay those interactions forward by developing a web and mobile app that teaches children the value of journalism in a visual, interactive and engaging way,” Katcher writes. To achieve this, she is developing a web and mobile app that will not only deliver the news but also help users produce news of their own. The app will deliver news using a visual centric and mobile-friendly platform on which text can be combined with photos, videos, illustrations, animations and info graphics. It will also tie into the device’s camera and have a media-editing bay where users can pull in YouTube clips for b-roll. While working on her news application, Katcher says she also loves spending time with her husband and two children, learning new languages (Spanish or JavaScript), reading, DJ’ing and discovering new music. A native of Detroit, Katcher received a BA in Journalism with Honors from Wayne State University. She is currently an intern at 3D software giant, Autodesk, which aligns with her interest in technology and software applications.
A newly established scholarship for students who pursue degrees at the intersection of journalism and computers has been awarded to a Berkeley graduate student for her innovative project to connect children to journalism. Beatrice Katcher, a student at the Graduate School of Journalism, is one of only two winners of this year’s AP-Google Journalism and Technology Scholarship Program, which provides $7,500 funding for 2014-15 academic year. “Winning this award is incredible,” says Katcher, “I found out I won when I was at my internship at Autodesk and I did a happy dance in the lobby.” Katcher, a mother of two, fell in love with journalism at a young age. Growing up, she often revisited the past with her grandfather through family photos. At age seven, she interviewed him for her aunt’s cable access show. “I fell in love with journalism then and I wanted to pay those interactions forward by developing a web and mobile app that teaches children the value of journalism in a visual, interactive and engaging way,” Katcher writes. To achieve this, she is developing a web and mobile app that will not only deliver the news but also help users produce news of their own. The app will deliver news using a visual centric and mobile-friendly platform on which text can be combined with photos, videos, illustrations, animations and info graphics. It will also tie into the device’s camera and have a media-editing bay where users can pull in YouTube clips for b-roll. While working on her news application, Katcher says she also loves spending time with her husband and two children, learning new languages (Spanish or JavaScript), reading, DJ’ing and discovering new music. A native of Detroit, Katcher received a BA in Journalism with Honors from Wayne State University. She is currently an intern at 3D software giant, Autodesk, which aligns with her interest in technology and software applications.