Jerome L. James “Rise” Creative Writing Scholarship

Growing up in the city of Detroit, I was exposed to many harsh lessons–lessons that taught me that life is more than mere existence. This profound belief was deeply ingrained in me from a young age and has helped shape my perspective of the world around me. As I matured, that foundation blossomed into a powerful motivation and an unwavering drive to make a positive impact on the lives of other young people through my art and values. Throughout my childhood, I watched and read about kids risking their lives to “fit in,” throwing away so much due to violence or not feeling there was anything more that they could do in their lives. The pounding pressure of losing a friend at the age of ten to gun violence left a deep impression-an impression that pushed me to use my creative work as a passionate effort to expand the horizons of our society. Looking back, even when I first started making stories and videos, they were meant as a way to help my parents in our time of need. While my father faced unemployment, my mother alone carried the weight of our household. As bills piled up, my foundation started to falter. As fights became constant, the anger and painful emotions they showed toward each other felt like jabs at my vision of a happy home. At eight years old, I didn’t have money or answers, but I had creativity. So I made a vow to myself: I would use my art to lift my family beyond these struggles and to someday inspire others facing struggles of their own. That promise became more than motivation–it became direction. I'm going to make beautiful stories that people of all ages can relate to using my talents, not just with words but with visuals. I strongly believe that anything is possible as long as you have the motivation. I love watching people come up with beautiful ideas for stories because you can tell how passionate they are for their craft, and I love it even more when I can help said people bring their stories to life. Watching different styles of art inspires me to challenge myself and grow. For every one of my projects, I aim to make it better than the last, putting my love for storytelling into every angle and every word. I’m deeply passionate about telling stories and even more passionate about being able to go above and beyond my goal. I push myself to achieve, and if I struggle, I get back up and learn from my mistakes. I will not allow myself to quit because I have so much to do in this life of mine, and I am taking every opportunity I can to succeed. Today, my art has become not just a way to help those I care for but a way to help others around the world. People deal with so many problems and difficulties and often feel that they are alone in these situations, but I want those people to connect with my work. I want people to feel heard and to know someone understands them. I want people to see that everybody has a story and it deserves to be heard. If they can’t do it themselves, then I’ll do it for them–because in helping others feel seen, I’ve discovered what it truly means to be seen myself.