Paying It Forward

The popular pay-it-forward concept is nothing new at the Graphic Communications Scholarship Foundation (GCSF). For a dozen years now, GCFS has been giving back to the future of our industry, helping aspiring graphic arts professionals to fund their educations. Since 2003, the foundation has given away more than $415,000, pointed out Laura Reid, a trustee who also is VP of manufacturing and production at Hearst Magazines.

In 2014 GCSF awarded $56,000 of annual scholarships – a new high. However, it still is not enough, according to Diane Romano, a VP and fellow trustee. “Tuition costs are rising,” she observed. “Our goal is to increase the level of giving, both the total per year and the amounts to individuals,” explained Romano, who is president and CEO of visual communications firm HudsonYards Studios in New York City.

One recent beneficiary is Elyssa Kohlhagen, a 2013 and 2014 scholarship recipient who appreciates the $3,500 she received from GCSF over two school years. This month, Kohlhagen graduates early (she was technically a junior) with a communications design degree from Skidmore College, a liberal-arts school in Saratoga Springs, NY. The GCSF application process is relatively straight-forward, she remembered. “It’s more focused on your portfolio, which I liked.”

Kohlhagen added that the $1,000 in scholarship money that she was given this past school year went mostly toward the design software tools she needed to buy as part of her education. “It’s very expensive,” she said.

For other scholarship recipients, the foundation’s generosity is even more meaningful. “It basically covered half of my tuition every semester,” praised Jessie Murphy, who graduated in 2011 with a B.S. in graphic design from the NYC College of Technology, better known as City Tech, which is part of the CUNY (City University of New York) urban system. Now a free-lancer at her own firm, JAM Graphic Design in Brooklyn, Murphy first earned an associate’s degree at Kingsborough Community College, another CUNY school, before applying to GCSF.

Romano noted, “We want to take something that’s good and make it great. Presently, we are able to help between 20 and 25 students annually with gifts between $40,000 and $50,000 per year. We want to get that number into the six-digit range. Our awards are between $1,000 and $5,000 now,” she continued. The average individual scholarship is approximately $1,700. “We would like to see them grow to between $2,500 and $10,000, with most around $5,000.”

More than money

The monetary award is nice, of course, but it is much more than money that the students receive from GCSF. Scholarship recipients also get corporate gifts, including a Pantone Color Guide, Quark Xpress software, graphics/print textbooks from Heidelberg, and free memberships to IDEAlliance and the Advertising Production Club of NY.

The technical name of the 501c3 organization is the Graphic Communications Scholarship, Award and Career Advancement Foundation, Inc., and there’s little doubt that the actual name helps. “It looks good on a resume,” said Kohlhagen, the recent Skidmore under-graduate who, incidentally, is looking for a job.

But that’s merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg, according to Murphy, the student “sponge” who became actively involved in GCSF after graduating four years ago. Last year, she joined Reid and Romano as one of the foundation’s 14 trustees. “I always saw GCSF as a welcoming organization that was interested in my growth as a creative person and as a student,” she shared. Like many students, Murphy said she felt that she had the technical ability but lacked some of the interpersonal skills required to succeed in the working world.

“I had trouble adjusting to the professional world,” she admitted. “I didn’t know how to follow up with clients or even how to ask for an internship.” Now, she works as a GCSF student liaison, guiding them and talking to them directly about such issues and concerns. “It’s all about calming nerves and reducing their fear factor,” she noted.

Building confidence was the impetus to starting up GCSF’s Mentor Program in 2014. Murphy was one of the driving forces behind it. “Our goal is to give students a professional experience. They can ‘shadow’ someone for a day,” she explained, citing the example of former foundation VP David Luke who now works for Pantone. “There are 16 students and some recent graduates participating in the program,” which features mentors in vertical markets such as education, printing, marketing, and digital media.

Kohlhagen’s mentor is Bonnie Blake, who directs NYU’s Master's Program in Graphic Communications Management and Technology. “It has been incredible,” the mentee said, adding that Blake and she speak every so often on the phone. “We’ve talked about things like getting an internship versus a job and how much to charge for free-lance work.” Plus, there are the introductions and connections that her mentor can facilitate. “Bonnie encouraged me to join New York Women in Communications, and I’ve been invited to their Matrix Awards. I’ve met a bunch of people I never would have met before,” thanks to her.

Networking opportunities are a major part of the overall GCSF experience. Kohlhagen’s scholarship for 2014-15 was partly subsidized by NY print firm Candid Worldwide, formerly known as Candid Litho. “I got to meet Howie Weinstein, who took me on a tour of their facility where I spoke with people who work there.”

The amount of time that mentors give varies from one meeting a month to a couple of phone calls per week, Murphy said. If you are an industry professional in the New York metropolitan area and would like to become a mentor to a GCFS student, please go to gcscholarships.org/gcmentors.htm.

Spring Fling in June

New Yorkers, mark your calendars for June 4, when GCSF will host its “Spring Fling” on the rooftop of advertising firm Ogilvy (west side of Midtown Manhattan). “It’s a beautiful venue,” Romano assured, adding that the goal is to raise $25,000. Corporate sponsorships are available: five tickets for $1,000.

Meanwhile, the award ceremony for 2015 recipients is slated for June 18. For samples of the scholarship award each student received (by award year), go here: http://in3.org/ga/scholarshipinfo/scholarship.htm