Pittsfield Student Awarded Daniel Pearl Berkshire Scholarship

Congratulations to Pittsfield High School graduate Emma Kostyun, who was awarded the $2,000 Daniel Pearl Berkshire Scholarship according to a post at masslive.com.  The scholarship was founded in honor of Daniel Pearl (pictured) who was a Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in 2002.

Pearl was doing research for a story on terrorism at the time of his kidnapping and murder.  He started his career in journalism in the Berkshires at the former North Adams Transcript and The Berkshire Eagle newspapers.   He went on to become the south Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal according to the post.

The scholarship in his Pearl’s name has been awarded since 2003 to a high school student from the Berkshires majoring in music or journalism.  Both were major interests of Pearl's.

Kostyun is a perfect recipient of the scholarship.  She loves music and played the clarinet, sax and bassoon in her high school band.  Kostyun also was part of the school newspaper and was a member of the National Honor Society and the drama club.   She is set to study journalism at the University of New Hampshire.

The masslive.com post included this quote from Kostyun… “In my learnings about Daniel Pearl, I have learned that he expressed himself and his identity and bravely took on stories that were dangerous yet courageous,” she wrote. “I aspire not only to be myself but to be brave and courageous just like Mr. Pearl and through my passion create a legacy like his own.”

Congratulations Emma from all of us here at Townsquare Media.  Be sure to reach out to us after you graduate UNH.  We'd love to have you join our writing staff.