Jake Goldberg’s highlight reel:
All year, Jake Goldberg has informed and entertained Morristown Green readers with his colorful Colonial Corner Sports reports.
And so we wish to add our hearty congratulations to the Morristown High School senior for winning the John T. Cunningham Scholarship.
Jake, who graduates tonight, June 25, 2014, will put the $1,250 award from the Morris Educational Foundation toward his education at Ithaca College, where he plans to study TV and broadcasting at the Roy H. Park School of Communications.
We were lucky enough to know John Cunningham, writer and historian, in his later years. The MHS alum (Class of ’32) always offered encouragement to young talent; no doubt he would be pleased by Jake’s selection for this scholarship, which has been awarded for the last 13 years to aspiring communications students.
“Mr. New Jersey” wrote more than 50 books. One of them, Youth’s Bright Years: An American High School, about his alma mater, generated the proceeds that endow the scholarship.
Jake read another John Cunningham book, The Uncertain Revolution, for a contest at the Frelinghuysen Middle School.
Of course, Jake’s credentials for the scholarship go much deeper. While earning a 3.96 grade point average, he served as sports producer for Colonial Corner and WJSV 90.5 FM for two years, worked on the lighting crew for school plays, captained the varsity tennis team, and was named to the National Honor Society and International Thespian Society.
Outside the classroom, he has volunteered with special needs children in the SNAP program, refereed Morris United recreational soccer games, coached Alexander Hamilton elementary schoolers at tennis clinics, and counseled 6- and 7-year-olds in the Future Stars Camp.
But Jake discovered his passion– communications–in Michael Butler’s MHS broadcasting class.
“Mr. Butler and I started at Morristown High School the same year and even though he was a teacher, our relationship has been like we are peers,” Jake said in his scholarship application.
“I know that all good things come to an end and that this will be the last year Mr. Butler will be my teacher. The bright side is that for years to come I know that Mr. Butler and I will stay in touch and if I ever need communication advice, Mr. Butler will be the first one I call.”
We’ll miss Jake next year. But we’re pretty sure he will be a regular on everyone’s TV and video screens before long.
Notes: Other winners of MEF award this year include Greg Goldstein for the Dorothy F. Johnson Scholarship, Grace Campbell for the Stephen B. Wiley Scholarship, and Junior student Daniela Mazo, first recipient of the Eklund Scholarship — the largest scholarship in Morristown High history.
Also, New Jersey Hall of Fame balloting has ended; stay tuned in July to see if John Cunningham has won.
