Each summer, Rhode Island PBS and The Public’s Radio award a $60,000 college scholarship to a local high school graduate who is planning to pursue a career in journalism.
This year’s recipient is Scarlet Biancuzzo. She’s a Bristol native and a Barrington High School graduate. This fall she’ll enroll at the University of Missouri, one of the most prestigious journalism schools in the country.
Scarlett spoke with Morning Host Luis Hernandez about her professional aspirations.
Interview highlights
On how she became interested in journalism
Scarlett Biancuzzo: I went to Barrington High School, coming from Bristol. My mom works at Barrington High School. My dad works for the district. They were like, “I really think you should come to Barrington High School. I think it’s a great opportunity.” They’re like, “You get to choose a CTE pathway.”
I’ve always loved talking. Every report card I’ve ever gotten back has said, “Great student. Talks too much in class.” I turned to my mom. I was like, “So I can go to school to talk? Great.” And I was like, “I’ll do TV production.”
I applied for it and I got in and I started the classes and I just kind of went [thinking] maybe I will do it as a career. Who knows? And I fell in love with it immediately; the opportunity to speak and talk and not get in trouble for talking, but also meet so many people and learn so many people’s stories and experiences.
On her journalistic experiences in high school
Biancuzzo: Probably my proudest broadcasting piece I put together was interviewing a nurse at Newport Hospital. I showed up at Newport Hospital and I was like, “Can I interview someone here?” And they were like, “Yeah.” That was a great experience. I got to put together a piece about COVID-19 and the effect on healthcare workers.
Probably the coolest thing I ever got to do throughout my whole experience throughout the four years was an internship at the Rhode Island State House with Capitol TV and Margie Reed. I got to do an interview with a state senator from Pawtucket – Senator Acosta – about food insecurity throughout America and the importance of recognizing it.
On how young people today consume news
Biancuzzo: I do think young people care about the news, and I think that’s come to light with everything going on with the budget cuts and so many organizations being attacked and not having funding and everything. I think, through that, there’s been an increase of young people speaking up about it or becoming aware about it.
I think the biggest way you reach young people is through social media. I know I follow CNN, the Washington Post, New York Times, PBS, to kind of keep up with what’s going on. Instagram is such a great way to reach young people. Are you going to reach everyone? No. But I think you can reach a lot of young people through social media.
