Archbishop Carroll High School will host a private ribbon-cutting and press conference for the opening of its Jim Vance Media Center on Thursday, March 12.
Vance, a beloved veteran news anchor in D.C., died at age 75 in 2017 following a battle with cancer.
The event which begins at 9 a.m., will feature famed radio personality Donnie Simpson as master of ceremonies. Simpson, a longtime family friend and professional colleague, “was like a brother to Jim,” according to his widow Kathy Vance.
Listed among the VIP presenters will be Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who will open the ceremony with a blessing and remarks, Doreen Gentzler, NBC4 anchor and co-anchor with Vance for more than 25 years, and Steve Newby, who gifted the center as part of the largest donation in Archbishop Carroll’s history.
“I am grateful for Mr. Newby’s donation because the media center and the program will help change the trajectory of the lives of our students and positively influence the entire Carroll community,” said Larry Savoy, Archbishop Carroll president.
The newly renovated, 5,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art media center will house the Jim Vance Media Program, which officially launched on Dec. 7, 2018.
The highly competitive program admits and awards 20 students per year a four-year, full-tuition scholarship and provides an interdisciplinary, multimodal and diverse curriculum, which introduces “Vance Scholars” to the field of journalism (radio, television, print, photography, social media, broadcast engineering) and more.
“This is a wonderful legacy and tribute to my husband, our children and the family,” Vance said. “We are grateful and honored that Vance’s passion for journalism and education will live on through the Vance Scholars.”
