Artists and Writers in the Community Scholarship

1. A few years ago, my family went to see The Nutcracker as performed by a local dance school in the downtown area of my city. My family has always been big on the arts, taking us to art festivals, plays, and musicals performed in the area whenever possible. The show captivated me - it was so much more than just dances, it was quite literally poetry in motion. Part of the reason it meant so much to me at the time is because that was when I had just settled on writing as a career - I was looking specifically at lyric writing and poetry at the time, although I've diversified a little since then. It didn't just blow my mind, it opened my eyes to what I wanted from my writing - graceful, descriptive words that flowed like water, and wove together into a story worth reading. 2. One of the most important teachers in my life was Miss P, my English teacher in sophomore year of high school. She went out of her way to make sure we understood what we were learning, and was always engaging and interactive with her lessons. She was always very understanding of me, and when I doodled in class, she even asked me to make a drawing for her, which she hung up on the whiteboard. Miss P was both a teacher and a friend, and above all else, she taught me to appreciate my own work. 3. The arts are so much more than entertainment. They are crucial for telling the truths the world needs to hear, and providing encouragement or harsh realities in times we need them most. I would choose to host a poetry slam/songwriting contest, spotlighting blues music and poetry about the history and culture of the American South, to give more exposure to poets and songwriters of color, who are often underrepresented in the South itself. 4. In high school, I was in choir for all four years, and one thing I always wanted was to get into the a cappella girls' group. I auditioned for three years, and always tried my best. Unfortunately, I never got in. This caused me to try all the harder at other auditions, and I was accepted into the chamber singers choir at my school senior year, and we sung at graduation. What had been a failure gave me the motivation I needed to achieve success.