The National Court Reporters Foundation has announced that Chaya Shusterman of New York Career Institute, New York, N.Y. is the recipient of its inaugural Robert H. Clark Scholarship.
Shusterman, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is nearing completion of her court reporting education. She hopes to pursue realtime and become a CART captioner.
“As a hardworking young woman trying to balance being in school full time, being available to assist my parents, and running my own home on a tight budget, the lack of available funds can be the source of much stress and worry,” said Shusterman. “Thanks to the generosity of the Robert H. Clark Scholarship, I received the relief I needed at just the right time! Thank you so much for assisting me in my journey to achieve my goals. I am deeply grateful.”
This scholarship is named for the late Robert H. (Bob) Clark, a court reporter from Los Angeles, Calif., and is supported by a generous donation from Clark’s cousin, Donna Hamer. Clark was the beloved, longest-tenured Librarian-Historian in NCRA history, serving for approximately 26 years. In 1993, he donated his extensive collection of books, artifacts, and documents related to court reporting to NCRF to help establish the Robert H. Clark Library at NCRF headquarters. He passed away in 2000.
“Robert Clark was totally dedicated to court reporting and curious about everything,” said Hamer. “He always wanted to know how things worked and how to use words to explain it. Everywhere he went, he looked for new ways to use words and interesting court reporting tools.”
Beginning this year and running through 2019, NCRF will randomly draw one recipient from nominations that have been submitted to receive a $1,800 scholarship to support the remainder of his or her education. Students are nominated by instructors or other officials at their schools. To be eligible, nominees must be NCRA members, enrolled in an NCRA-certified court reporting program, have passed at least one of their program’s Q&A tests at 200 words per minute, and possess a GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, among other criteria.
For more information about NCRF scholarships and grants, please visit NCRA.org/NCRF.
