Behind the scenes of duPont Manual’s Journalism and Communication (J&C) magnet lies a volunteer-driven, booster club: The Publishers. They are a nonprofit organization primarily composed of J&C parents that give time, money and commitment to support and assist both students and teachers.  Their fundraising helps give financial aid for trips, provides scholarships and enables J&C creativity to become a reality.

Events

The Publishers are behind many J&C events, such as the ice cream social and trivia night. The ice cream social revolves around introducing freshmen to the magnet and allows them to interact with one another while showcasing the various publications J&C has to offer. Trivia night is the biggest annual fundraiser for The Publishers, where students, parents and alumnus alike form teams and compete against one another. Topics from the 2019 trivia night included Stanley Kubrick and “The Office.”  Due to COVID-19 and current school restrictions, no date has been set for trivia night and the ice cream social was canceled for the current school year. 

Fundraising for what?

The primary goal of The Publishers, as a booster club, is to raise funds for the J&C magnet which helps students attend field trips and gives assistance to teachers and students among other things. 

“The Publishers give opportunities to students that might not otherwise have the chance to take advantage of many of the opportunities that the J&C magnet avails to its students.  Whether it is helping students attend a conference, paying for memberships to journalism organizations that provide resources to the students and faculty, covering the cost of monthly subscriptions to the CJ and NYT, providing prize money for a writing contest organized by the students, awarding scholarships to deserving seniors,” said Kevin Campisano, the treasurer of The Publishers. 

Scholarships

Each school year, The Publishers dedicate much of their acquired funds (between $500-$1,000, depending on how much was raised) to student scholarships. Only so many scholarships are given per school year and are awarded to J&C seniors who are selected from the application process and meet the eligibility requirements. 

In order to be eligible for The Publisher scholarship, J&C seniors must have a minimum 2.5 GPA, plan to major in either journalism, communications, digital design, creative writing or a related field, and one member of their household must have been a member of the Publishers each year they’ve attended the magnet. Next, seniors should fill out the application form and showcase why they deserve to be awarded this scholarship.  Three J&C seniors were awarded $1,000 scholarships for the 2019-20 school year. 

How to join or give 

Visit their website at https://www.thepublishers.org/ and click the ‘Join’ tab across the top of the page to buy a membership. Student and parent memberships are ten dollars and alumnus memberships are five dollars per school year. All proceeds go towards financing the J&C magnet.  

If you can’t become a member, there are more ways to help support The Publishers, and in turn, the J&C magnet. Volunteers are always welcome to help work events, chaperone field trips and/or serve on the board of directors. 

“The J&C program is very fortunate to have such a dynamic and caring faculty and the Publishers board tries to support them any way we can,” Campisano said.

To learn more about The Publishers, visit their website at https://www.thepublishers.org/ or contact them at [email protected]