Article updated August 24, 2015 at 11:15 a.m.- The university announced that Jacob Zelinski from Detriot is the first James Foley Scholarship recipient.
A new scholarship program honoring journalist and slain alumnus James Foley is fully funded and has been awarded to an incoming freshman for the 2015-’16 school year.
University spokesman Brian Dorrington confirmed the James Foley Scholarship launch. The $8,000 scholarship is exclusive to high school seniors applying to the College of Communication. It can be renewed yearly during undergraduate years as long as the student remains in the college and maintains a 2.5 cumulative GPA.
World-wide, 1,366 donors contributed $316,675 to the fund set up after Foley’s death. He was killed by Islamic State militants on August 19, 2014 after he was abducted in November 2012 while covering the war in Syria. His death, said to be retaliation for American airstrikes, was video-recorded and published online.
Applicants for the scholarship are selected based on dedication to fields including and related to community service, social justice and volunteering.
The Marquette community gathered August 26 to remember Foley with a prayer vigil in the Church of the Gesu. Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama released statements on Foley’s death.
“Foley went to the darkest of places to shine the light of truth,” Kerry said in a statement. “He was brave and bold, and no masked coward can ever steal the legacy of this courageous American who lived out the meaning of the word journalism.”
“We will continue to confront this hateful terrorism and replace it with a sense of hope and civility,” Obama said in a statement. “And that’s what Jim Foley stood for, a man who lived his work, who courageously told the stories of his fellow human beings, who was liked and loved by friends and family.”
Foley graduated from the College of Arts & Sciences in 1996.
