To start, I would like to send my condolences to the family of Bayli Lake for their loss. I understand it’s extremely hard to cope with the passing of a loved one and I pray that she rests in peace. It’s lovely to hear how passionate Bayli was about art, and even having her goal of being an illustrator. Like Bayli, I am also extremely passionate about art. Going to the University of South Florida for animation and digital modeling, I plan to become a professional animator and illustrator. I have a huge imagination and lots of amazing stories that act as the creative gifts that I want to give out to everyone in the world. During and after watching movies, reading chapter books, and comics, is where my creativity reaches its peak. When I can portray my ideas on my canvas with the inspirations that I have, in my comfortable environment to draw in, nothing can stop me. I play a lot of music when I draw because the tunes help me imagine certain scenarios or visuals that I want to turn into reality with my art. It also helps me reach that state of flow. Where the freedom of the pencil and art pen allows me to bring my ideas and designs to life, and the inspirations I get from what I have watched or seen act like the battery to the right side of my brain. For example, Star Wars satisfies my love for science fiction and helps me understand certain aspects a sci-fi story would have. Just like that, I have a better creative spark when drawing something that’s part of the sci-fi genre. Books and comics do the same thing, but they also have a special characteristic that I love about them; they go in dept with the details. Art for me is like an extension for my absolute love of storytelling and worldbuilding. So, reading helps me turn the verbose words that I want to describe my art and comics into a more visual language. I identify as a young, aspiring African American artist who loves to tell stories, and I incorporate the identities of myself through characters and visuals. I like to add a little piece of myself into what I make, as if the art is a part of me. Or, in a sense, I am a part of art. It’s the reason why I really like art because in a way it acts as a free and fun therapy session. I add my emotions to give the overall designs the feelings I want them to represent. The facial expression of a character I create and be an expression of a personality. No matter the parts of me that I see myself as, I can always just pull them out and convert them into graphite on paper, or digital pixels on an art tablet’s canvas. Overall, I am very passionate about my journey towards my goal of being a professional artist and illustrator. I take advantage of the times that I am most creative to produce the best art that I can make, and every piece incorporates a part of me because it shows how I see myself as. With this, and the help of the education I receive from my university, I will make sure I do all that I can to reach my aspirations and become the professional artist that I want to be.

If I am going to be honest, me and my family have been through a multitude of struggles. The trials and tribulations that I had to go through are parts of the pillars of where I am now. In which those experiences had developed my own motivation of moving forwards to succeed. I am a sole believer that when we fall, its our duty to get back up again, because in reality the main goal of us moving forwards is to be in a better place than where we were in the past. When I was around 7, was when me and my family experienced life living inside a car. No home to go back to, no luxury air conditioning, no bed to sleep in, no tv to watch. We were always on the move. Me, my mom, and my little brother who was a baby at that time, had to go through that for months. At that age, I knew what was going on, but always looked on the brightest side of the situation; I viewed every time we had to leave a shelter, was just another field trip like how they did on The Magic School Bus. It wasn't until I got older I realized the grueling aspects of what my mom had to endure to make sure we found a place to live and were taken care of. We had to park at random places to go to our trunk, and grab our toothbrushes and toothpaste relying on bottles of water to wash out mouths. We had to go to mall family bathrooms to wash ourselves. We had to go to hospitals, different shelters, and other places to get food and warmth when the car wasn't enough for us to survive in. We were, quite literally, scraping the bottom of the barrel. Along with me having to see my mom cry, and help take care of my little brother as such hard times, it was truly a harsh moment of our lives. However, never did those struggles, those trials and tribulations, ever stray my mom away from doing what she had to do. She would go to shelters, get a no, and then proceed to another one. She wouldn't let us be hungry, or cold at night. She always made sure I went to school. Eventually, we managed to find a good shelter to stay in, and my mom was able to have us leave the shelter moving in to our new place to live permanently. Seeing her move and knowing what she had to go through motivated me to make sure I helped her out, and helped myself. I made sure to do well in school, up to being accepted to the University of South Florida. Graduating with honors. I volunteered with the Berkeley academy to help those who struggle to buy food, because I knew how bad it was for me and my family when I was in that position. To summarize, I exemplify Agape love because no only do I help out my mom, who went through struggles to get us where we are, but I also help my community to make sure those in similar situations aren't left out, that they know that there's people who want to help them. I may have been through harsh times, but I help out to show that with drive, motivation, and faith, we can get out of any struggle no matter what it is. With ambition, we can do anything we set our eyes to.