<p>“The daughter of a Bengali cab driver in Queens and a young Arab-American from Austin, Texas, are this year's winners of the National Press Club's annual Ellen Masin Persina Journalism Scholarships for minority students. Each will receive $20,000.</p>
<p>“The first winner, Tasnim Shamma of Jamaica, N.Y., is the daughter of a cab driver who gave up his career as a journalist in Bangladesh to raise his family in the United States. Shamma, who has been accepted at Princeton University, was editor of the newspaper at Brooklyn Technical High School, where she earned almost all A's.</p>
<p>“Shamma impressed the club's scholarship committee with a beautifully written essay describing an encounter with her father: "He should have been the happiest father in the world. But he wasn't. When I revealed that I wanted to follow in his footsteps as a journalist, a large frown materialized across his face. He was upset -- even angry." She went on to describe her father's concern, coming from a country where colleagues had been routinely kidnapped. But she was determined. Journalism, Shamma wrote to the judges, is "a way of life as well as a way of thinking about the world."</p>
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<p>Congratulations, Tasnim!</p>