When you support scholarships for Daily Texan staff members by donating to the Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc. endowment, who receives the money and where are they now, after graduation?
Read below – in their own words – about 4 former Texan staffers who are examples of the importance of those grants that you help support. One student former student calls it “a lifesaver” for him and his family; another says, “I couldn’t be more grateful for the investment in my career and studies.”
Since the Friends group’s first grant of $1,500 to one student in 2018, $41,750 has been awarded to 36 Texan staffers.
Next spring at least two more scholarships will be added to the list, providing financial support to 49 students, totaling $62,750.
Please consider helping; whether it’s $25 or $25,000, your donation will make a difference.
The Friends of The Daily Texan group is working to raise $300,000 in 2023 to provide permanent funding for all scholarships.
All donors will be recognized in a permanent and lasting manner.
Want to know more? Contact: friendsofthetexan@gmail.com
Want to donate?
Online option: https://friendsofthedailytexan.com/donations/
Or by check: Friends of The Daily Texan, P.O. Box 8383, Austin, TX 78713
The Friends of The Daily Texan is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that has been recognized by the IRS as being tax-exempt by virtue of its charitable programs. Your donation may be tax deductible.
Read below about recent winners, how the scholarship helped them and the jobs in journalism that they now hold:
Chase Karacostas, now a reporter working for McClatchy in South Carolina
Chase Karacostas served on The Daily Texan’s staff for all four years at UT, plus a summer, for a total of nine semesters with work spanning five different departments. He is now an email campaign developer for KUT, Austin’s NPR affiliate based at the University of Texas.
It was his time at The Texan, including his final semester with the newsletters department, that led to the role he holds today. If it weren’t for all of the different jobs he held, Karacostas says he wouldn’t have been as willing to experiment with his career and is incredibly thankful for what he gained.
But it was his two scholarships from the Friends of The Daily Texan that made one of the biggest differences in Karacostas’ life while at the University. During his junior and senior year, Karacostas experienced significant nerve damage, impeding his ability to type, among other activities. It was a potentially devastating blow for someone who loved writing above all else.
“My scholarships from the Friends of The Daily Texan were lifesavers for my family, which spent more than $10,000 on medical bills while I was at UT to address my health problems and reset my life back to the way it was,” Karacostas said. “I was so thankful that, through the generous support of the Friends, I didn’t have to live in fear that my career was over.”
Karacostas held 10 different roles during his nine semesters with The Texan, including as the editor of the news, projects and newsletters departments for half of that time.
After graduating, Karacostas went on to work for McClatchy in South Carolina, where he won NLGJA’s national award for newswriting, non-daily, for his work covering the LGBTQ+ community.
Megan Menchaca, now a reporter covering the Houston Independent School District for the Houston Chronicle
Megan Menchaca, the inaugural recipient of the Jerry and Becky Conn Award, is now the Houston Independent School District reporter for the Houston Chronicle.Menchaca graduated debt-free from the University of Texas with dual degrees in journalism and government due to the generosity of the $1,500 scholarship she received from the Friends of The Daily Texan.
She was honored to be among the six scholarship recipients during the board’s banquet in 2019.
“I’m so immensely grateful for the financial support that the Friends of The Daily Texan provided me while I was a UT student,” Menchaca said. “I couldn’t be more grateful for the board’s investment in my career and studies as well as all the support they’ve given to the many other students who’ve worked at the Daily Texan.”
She held 12 different positions during her tenure at The Daily Texan, including managing editor, director of digital strategy and news editor. Under her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Texan received high honors from the College Media Association and the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association.
She has also previously worked at The Texas Tribune, the Dallas Morning News, the Austin American-Statesman and other media organizations in Texas.
She is proud to be one of the newest board members of the Friends of the Daily Texan.
Skye Seipp, now a reporter covering public safety for the Austin American-Statesman
Receiving the $1,500 Friends of The Daily Texan scholarship in the spring of 2022 semester was beyond helpful for me as a first-generation, non-traditional student. Working at the Texan is not easy sometimes, and I don’t think any student there could say they are there for the money.
But we do it because we love it, and we want to continue being the best college newspaper in the country. I’m extremely grateful to the members of the Friends of The Daily Texan for offering this financial support to the immensely talented students that make the basement operate.
Since joining in fall 2020, I’ve had a variety of positions. I started as a general news reporter, moved on to become a senior news reporter covering campus and breaking news that next spring semester, then became an associate news editor in fall 2021, a position I held in the spring also.
I then became news editor in summer 2022. In my last year at both UT subsequently the Texan, I’ve became the projects editor, where I tried to revitalize the department dedicated to long-form, watchdog-investigative journalism.
Currently, I am the public safety reporter at the Austin American-Statesman, which is a place I interned and worked at part-time as a student.
Myah Taylor, now a high school sports reporter for the Dallas Morning News
Myah Taylor, the 2020 recipient of the McConnico-Bouju Print Award, is a high school sports reporter for the Dallas Morning News. She previously covered Collin County, with an emphasis on Plano, for The News. Taylor graduated from the University of Texas in May 2022 with a degree in journalism.
She feels immense gratitude to the Friends of The Daily Texan for recognizing her with a scholarship. That gift eased her financial burden and inspired her to pay it forward. Taylor is thankful for institutions like the Friends that reward students for their achievement and make working in student media more accessible for all.
While Taylor’s first full-time gig was in news, she got her start in journalism in the sports department at the Texan. During her time in the basement (physical and virtual), she served as a senior sports reporter covering various Texas Athletics teams. She eventually became the sports editor amid the pandemic and mounting social unrest.
Taylor finished her tenure at the Texan as the paper’s managing editor for Fall 2021. That semester in particular, she was responsible for ensuring a smooth transition back to the basement as students returned to in-person classes.
Taylor previously held sports internships with the Austin American-Statesman, Yahoo Sports, the Los Angeles Times and the Dallas Morning News before joining Dallas’ newsroom full-time in January 2023.