Aspiring Journalist Wins Student Scholarship

A student at Cal State University Monterey Bay was selected as the 2010 recipient of the $1,000 prize in the Monterey County Film Commission Film Student Scholarship and Awards Program.

Rachel Asendorf is a junior in the Teledramatic Arts and Technology Department. Asendorf is from Seaside. She is putting herself through college working as a news intern in the office of strategic communications at CSUMB, learning how to merge news and technology. She is also a production assistant for the Monterey Teen Film Festival, helping manage media and marketing. Asendorf had her own political talk radio show, "Raving Raven," focusing on issues such as media influence, and next semester she'll be hosting the radio show, "Cult Pop."

In 2007 she won the Hispanic Heritage Bronze Award in the Los Angeles area for excellence in news writing. In high school in Apple Valley, Calif., she produced, directed, edited and filmed two documentaries that were distributed to each student who purchased a yearbook.

Her career goal is to produce video packages and enter the online or broadcast journalism field.

"I want to enlighten, inform and entertain audiences through my future productions," Asendorf said.

The Monterey County Film Commission scholarship program was created to provide financial aid and incentive to students of film and beginning filmmakers who reside in Monterey County or are enrolled in a college or university in the county. The fund was established as a permanent endowment with the Community Foundation for Monterey County.

Contributions to the Monterey County Film Commission Film Student Scholarship and Awards Program are welcomed.