Greer Innovation, A Scholarship For Creatives

My hopes and dreams lie within an entrepreneurial spirit, with sights on becoming a successful business owner and operator. I will achieve this goal through my creative talents! To start, academically, I maintained a consistent 4.0 GPA amidst challenging AP courses, mental fatigue, the struggles of online schooling due to COVID, and sports-related injuries that delayed my learning. I believe that I was able to do this through the use of creativity. I rose to these challenges and adversity by being different. I've used a creative lens to get me to the highest points. I've always tried to think outside the box, to set me apart from others. My creative path began at home. Both of my parents are extremely creative and they live their lives in a way that boosts others, by finding ways to cater to the various strengths of the individuals around them. Their creativity seems to go hand in hand with giving. This was instilled in me from an early age. I spent most of my elementary/intermediate school years competing annually for Destination Imagination, Inc. Our schools would have try-outs for creativity teams that would compete at the district, regional, and state level. Each year I worked to problem solve with a project based program that taught me to be an innovative problem solver. Using STEAM, we would collaborate, think outside the box and create unique solutions in a competition. My team won for the state of Wisconsin for 3 years, AND we went on to the global competition where we competed creativity tasks against people from 22 other countries. I know that I will find success as a developer, organizer, and business owner. It's in my bones, part of my DNA make-up. I learned from a very early age that success takes drive, determination, perseverance, and understanding adversity. My father didn't graduate from college. He worked his way up the food chain, and became a franchisee of two fast food locations. I learned through his hard work and dedication, that some ideas fail, but to try again...to never stop trying. Creativity is the unique way for finding solutions, so that you can try again, with finally, a successful outcome. I want to build, imagine, and make. My mom is a teacher. Through her creativity, she brought the classroom to life and made learning so much fun. Every student was engaged and excited to learn. Beyond personal triumphs and my own inner bubble, I recognized the power of extending a helping hand to others navigating their own challenges while being a student in her classroom. This realization changed my perspective and had me step out of being self-centered and make a commitment to community engagement, those around me. I am creative in every sense of the word, as in every single area of my life I have to use creativity in my various roles; work=shift leader, sports=captain of my varsity teams, orchestra=first chair trumpet, & even at home=helping my younger brother. I plan to take the innate creativity in me, and begin to positively change our community. I will be looking outside of myself to make a difference in our world. It's through just these few listed reasons that I know I will be successful in my pursuit of an entrepreneurial career, because I will do it creatively.