The Ennes Educational Foundation Trust™ has awarded five scholarships for 2020. The recipients were chosen from applications received by July 1, 2020, from the previous 12 months.
The Harold E. Ennes Scholarship, Robert D. Greenberg Scholarship, John H. Battison Founder’s Scholarship and newly created Gino Ricciardelli Scholarship are awarded to individuals interested in continuing or beginning their education in broadcast engineering and technology. The Youth Scholarship is specifically for a graduating high school senior interested in broadcast engineering as a career. Each scholarship awarded this year is for $2,500.
This year the Harold E. Ennes Scholarship recipient is Chris Gamelin of Middletown, CT. He says he knew he wanted to be involved with broadcasting since he was very young, whether it was playing music via the internet or broadcasting a basketball game at his school. His goals in broadcasting continue to evolve as he feeds his hunger to learn. He credits John Ramsey for teaching him the technical side, which is what Chris is pursuing. His professional work began with an internship at WQUN-AM. Since then, he has worked for iHeartRadio and Entercom Communications, and is now a maintenance technician for WFSB-TV.
Receiving the Robert D. Greenberg Scholarship is Jon Sanelli of Albertson, NY. Jon loves everything about broadcasting, and more specifically how it all works technically. He has worked on the engineering and production side in the New York City market at WRHU Radio Hofstra University, in addition to broadcast facilities in the five boroughs and the Tri-state. Jon knows that broadcasting needs technology, but more importantly, it is people that make the industry shine.
The John H. Battison SBE Founder’s Scholarship has been awarded to Ismail Otu, CRO, CTO, originally from the Bronx, but now living in Charlotte, NC. He graduated from The Broadcasting Production Technology Program at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) in Charlotte. He served on Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society’s Vice President Committee, interned at WTVI PBS Charlotte, and earned the Most Outstanding Student Award at the Student Excellence Convocation on behalf of the CPCC’s broadcasting program. Ismail plays several critical roles during live events and concerts for CPCC’s performing arts and events facilities including sound board operator and stage/audio technician. While having extensive experience working as an audio engineer, he is devoted to becoming well-versed in other technical areas. Enthusiasm for audio fuels Ismail’s IT skill development focusing on networking technologies. He plans to attend The Cleveland Institute of Electronics and major in Broadcast Engineering/Wireless Communication Electronics to pursue a career in broadcast operations.
The Gino Ricciardelli Scholarship, created earlier this year in recognition of Gino Ricciardelli, an SBE Charter, Life and Fellow member who died in 2018, has been awarded to Sadie Levy of New York, NY. She currently attends Northeastern University in Boston, where she is majoring in electrical and computer engineering, with a focus on media production. Sadie graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she worked on various school productions as a Digital Media Department Intern. Also, while in high school, Sadie was awarded scholarships to study digital electronics in pre-college programs at both The Cooper Union and New York University. Last summer, Sadie completed a media internship in a New York City government office, and this summer she is completing a media/design internship at ATEM NYC. Sadie is looking forward to contributing to the field of recording and new media.
Isaiah Dickson of Brookhaven, PA, received the Youth Scholarship. Isaiah is entering his freshman year at Cabrini University. He will major in digital communication and social media. His work has been recognized by the Population Media Center and the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. He has been a part of the creation of a short film titled Marvelon as well as being part of the CollegeXpress student vlogger program. In his spare time he enjoys filming and editing his own videos, writing poetry, writing music, and live streaming.
SBE President Wayne Pecena, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, DRB, CBNE, said, “The SBE has an ongoing focus on education, and the Ennes Scholarships are yet another piece of the overall education effort. We look forward to seeing the great progress of these five budding engineers as they further their education goals with the assistance of the Ennes Educational Foundation Trust.”
The Harold Ennes Educational Foundation Trust, the educational foundation that grants scholarships and funds presentation of broadcast engineering-related educational programs, seminars and workshops, and helps underwrite costs with publishing technical books and manuals, has added a new scholarship to its current offerings. 
The new scholarship is in recognition of Gino Ricciardelli, an SBE Charter, Life and Fellow member who died in 2018. Ricciardelli, a long-time supporter of the SBE and the Ennes Educational Trust, and member of SBE Chapter 1, willed a significant part of his estate to the Trust.
For the 26th consecutive year, the SBE is a conference partner with the NAB Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference, the longest running and largest of the NAB Show conferences. Kicking off the BEITC on Saturday morning, April 18, is the Ennes Workshop, presented in conjunction with the SBE. Industry veterans Tom Mikkelsen and Stan Moote co-chair a cutting edge lineup, called “Multiplatform SuperSession.”
After a successful partnership in 2019, the SBE is again providing a program for the PBS TechCon. Held at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, the SBE program will be presented on Saturday, April 18.
This year the Harold E. Ennes Scholarship recipient is Nicholas Church of Rhinelander, WI. In May 2019, Nick began working as the director of operations and technology at WXPR-FM, the public radio station in Rhinelander, WI. He has a B.A. in music with a management studies concentration from St. Olaf College and is drawn to technology including amateur radio, micro-controllers, programming and creating efficiency through automation. After earning his SBE Certified Radio Operator, Nick began his broadcast education towards achieving the SBE Certified Broadcast Technologist and Certified Broadcast Networking Technologist certifications.
Receiving the Robert Greenberg Scholarship is Chris Gamelin of Middletown, CT. His interest in broadcasting began when he was 12. He learned how radio worked and started his own internet radio station and collected money to build a professional studio. He has improved his radio skills at WNHU-FM, the University of New Haven (where he met John Ramsey) and WQUN-AM at Quinnipiac University. He is currently a student at the University of New Haven, hoping to finish his part-time schooling soon. John Ramsey, who is now a friend, encouraged Chris to get involved on the engineering part of broadcasting. He has since worked as an assistant engineer at Entercom, and is now a maintenance technician at WFSB-TV. He has since learned to operate UAVs as well.
Andrew Marcus Heller of Two Rivers, WI, received the Youth Scholarship. His father owns two AM radio stations today, and Andrew was the first person to turn on WTRW’s solid-state transmitter at age three, and then again, now WGBW’s 12 kW transmitter at Denmark, WI, at 11 years old. Andrew has been involved in his high school audio/video efforts, and was the director of the student daily announcements his senior year. With a 3.9 grade point average in his senior year, Andrew was accepted to the Science and Engineering program at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. He selected Minnesota because of its strong engineering emphasis.
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