The first two winners of these Alumni Scholarships are Gabrielle Cooke and Grace Barbic.
Cooke was an anchor, producer and reporter at TV-10, as well as a highly decorated gymnast. She was selected for the prestigious Chips Quinn Scholars program. She was also named an IBA Multicultural Internship winner, and did a summer internship at WEEK-TV in Peoria. After graduation, she landed a job as a Digital Journalist at WCIA-TV in Champaign.
Barbic was also an anchor, producer and reporter at TV-10, and also hosted the show
Good Afternoon Blono. In addition, she was heavily involved at the Vidette, serving as News Editor her senior year. She worked at the Peoria Journal-Star newspaper while still a student and was accepted to the Public Affairs Reporting Graduate School at the University of Illinois-Springfield.
