(Option A: Art -> Vector Rig) With a brand focused on combining flavors, I figured a mascot that brings together a cornucopia of scientific disciplines would be a natural pick. My character is composed of materials found across various STEAM subjects. Her body is a standard laboratory flask, something that looks fragile but can withstand some of the most intense chemicals conceived in labs. The flask's shape is reminiscent of a skirt, reminding us of underappreciated women in STEAM. Her left leg, right arm, and glasses are made up of a drafting compass, folding rulers, and protractors. This gives her great potential to be an architect, a field that requires mastery of almost every STEAM field. Of course, nobody likes being all work and no play, which is why I decided to give her a beautiful collection of bubbles for hair, and a balloon arm with a near-infinite range of motion to style and show off however she wishes. At the end of the day, she and her quarter note leg can study music theory and relax at home. With her appearance and hobbies to express herself, she doesn't need a mouth to tell the world how great she is.

In the second verse of Olivia Rodrigo's 'Vampire,' she voices how, 'Every girl I've ever talked to, told you were bad, bad news. You called them crazy, God, I hate the way I called them crazy too...". She goes on to explain that this lack of public approval for her ex was a sign that she failed to avoid obeying, and now she sees that the consequences only left more shame on her, rather than on the man who left her in the dark. For nearly two whole years I listened to this song on repeat, only stopping after being given a reason to move on, such as finding another person I thought could fill the gap. Rodrigo's description of her ex here is nearly identical to the rotten end of my first real relationship. It was a relationship in which I felt obligated by society, his family, and the web of lies he shaped to maintain it. At the same time, I kept getting constant awkward laughs or jabs at my choice of a first boyfriend. The number of times I heard, "Oh. He's kind of a weird guy" could put me in a coma. I still remember sitting on his bed after staying silent the whole summer. I had rejected him twice already, and both times he would throw almost a tantrum and a strange sob story out for others to hear. Fortunately, he still wanted to hang out one last time during the first August of High school, a strange cue for someone who felt threatened by my autonomy. I was always told never to do anything I don't feel comfortable doing, but it's never as easy as just saying no, as everyone thinks. The conversation started accusatory; "You broke my heart, and did nothing to try and fix it." and moved to being pitiful; "Nobody was there for me, not even my family"! It's hard to feel sorry for someone yelling at you and getting in your face, though, but the worst had to be when he put me in the trap, "I was thinking of taking my life at some points, and nobody was there for me. I would have been alone and dead. Is that what you guys all want? I might just do it if nobody saves me; I need you". This was the biggest warning sign, the brightest red flag, I could have ever had thrown at me, yet I still sealed the deal. I gave my soul to the devil with an awkward side hug and a cautious, "Is there anything I can do?" prompt. The negotiation continued, "Maybe you could be my Girlfriend, or homecoming date? I just need someone to be there for me". If I didn't accept this terrible attempt at manipulation, I wouldn't be writing this now, so it's clear that I went against my gut and submitted to his suicide-bait tactics. Our "relationship" was one that, at the time, I possibly enjoyed, but all I remember are the awkward hugs, avoided kisses, goalposts being moved on what I believed was appropriate, and lack of awareness of my constant discomfort. A girl I very rarely talked with, but was a brutally honest ex-band kid, overheard me talking about my then "boyfriend". "Oh, he's pretty eccentric, even for your more out-there self. He once tried to suicide bait me, but I noped out of there before things got too deep". Her story rang like a bell in my head until the day this guy dumped me for being "too stubborn" or "holding him back".

The dinosaur I decided to draw was the Minmi. The genus Minmi stands out to me as it subverts many expectations that have been placed on both dinosaurs and the current inhabitants of the land they once walked on. Northwest Australia, or even just Australia as a whole, is not exactly the place most people think of when small, docile herbivores are being discussed. These are also not the traditional traits that get paired with dinosaurs worldwide. To see the Minmi, a native dinosaur to Australia, graze with only a single layer of protective plates protecting it from the endless threats of its carnivorous neighbors is both a pitiful sight and somewhat inspiring to me. This is why the Minmi is my favorite dinosaur. Its lack of an arsenal and pacifist demeanor is a refreshing break from the apex predators that get all the attention on the big screen. The Minmi reminds me that it's okay to not be the fiercest competitor, as long as I can keep myself content, everything should sail smoothly. I wanted to reflect this soft behavior in my illustration through the use of light Gauche glazes, to avoid creating a palette too aggressive or unnatural compared to my muse. While I tend to create a thicker, or even contrasting outline on my subjects with this medium, I decided it would be best to have the dinosaur maintain the same outline as the remainder of the composition (give or take a handful of weighted lines for variety). This result allowed my Minmi to keep its natural camouflage intact and to look less jarring among its scenic background. The background also has a minor influence created by the creature. I painted a scene that reflects the calm and simple goal of survival among the Minmi and similar herbivores. I made sure to avoid any scenery with too much energy and stuck with a relatively uniform palette of pastel and even muted colors in some areas to keep the final composition euphoric. Despite never drawing, let alone painting, a dinosaur before, this piece has grown on me the longer I stare at it after proclaiming it finished. I have to admit, despite trying my best, it's not my magnum opus, but I still feel a connection to it that no other drawing of mine has created. It's almost a maternal connection as I look at the innocence of the creature I have created. The Minmi is just so simple and nearly harmless that I don't feel threatened by the dinosaur, but I do want to protect it. Once again, the Minmi subverts my expectations of all things dinosaur.

We live in a world where people fight to have their voices heard, and very few manage to even be seen, let alone heard through their efforts. Nothing feels worse than feeling unseen and unheard in a community. For many, myself included, when the people around you refuse to listen to or acknowledge your experiences, cartoons have been there to make you feel like you have a voice and a valid perspective. The characters, conflict, and especially the underlying messages of each show that I hold close to me have been there to support my identity and presence. A show like Disney's 'Amphibia' allowed me to relate not just to Marcy, through her awkward personality and disinterested friends, but also enabled me to reflect on myself regarding the conflict between Anne and Sasha during the 2nd season. Sasha's impulsivity and anger management issues reminded me both of a friend who hurt me in the past, but she also gave me a moment to step back and realize that I can come off as standoffish myself if I don't give myself time to reason with people after being hurt. The trio among the girls may not be the most realistically written with the time span of their conflict, but it's one of the most accurate portrayals of how friendships and their dynamics morph as the individuals involved grow and mature; a lesson that was hard for me to accept before realizing it's a normal experience among many other friends around the world. This same character depth and connection with the audience are what I aim to create after gaining the proper experience to flesh out the current inklings I have developed so far. I want to create content that is both enjoyable and a great tool of guidance for the children and even young adults who watch my creations.

For many years, I have known that my ideal life is one in which I work at a small- to medium-sized animation studio. The specifics of my job are always evolving as I continue to learn about the industry's realistic pipeline, but the major steps have always remained intact. Location and resources will be among the most valuable assets in my journey. In order for my dream to become a reality, I will have to be in an area with a greater creative presence. This is one of the reasons I chose to go to college over just teaching myself the skills that come with the craft. Furthermore, the locations I am currently looking at for temporary or possibly permanent residency are ones that have greater general production scenes without the high cost that Los Angeles and New York bring with them. Most notably, Chicago is a location that has a similar cost of living to my current residence, as well as an active scene for independent animation studios. While it’s easy for many to envision themselves working for large names like Disney or Nickelodeon, the current reputation regarding these companies involving how they mistreat their creators and the ongoing growth of streaming and online productions have steered me closer towards independent studios. As I mentioned earlier, one of the reasons I decided to go to college was to meet and collaborate with other creators, in other words, to network prior to stepping onto the larger scene outside of campus. The school I am currently attending also supports its art and entertainment students with access to services, including the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of products and physical resources such as microphones, cameras, and just about all video production supplies. These are items I would not have had easy access to, nor the applicable knowledge of how to operate them prior to my higher education. This is why the most important, yet potentially troubling part of my path to success is attending college, a notoriously inaccessible, yet invaluable endeavor for many reaching the same goal. Most, if not all, participants in my program, including myself, have already dedicated time to studying the art and basic fundamentals of animation, but very few of us have had time to truly learn and freely explore with reliable and industry-grade equipment that we will be using just 3 years later in our actual studios. Despite 3 years sounding crazy in my head as the time for me to go from only knowing how to showcase basic animation concepts to creating feature short films for my thesis project, it will contain the largest and most valuable steps that have made up my lifelong plan since I first knew where I wanted to be by 2030. Even if I need to wait on moving to a greater city for my career, I still know of many online openings for studios, large and small, including a small handful of advertising firms in my hometown. No matter if I am still working on paying off the average $50,000 investment on my degrees, working towards finally getting that Chicago apartment, or staying in St. Louis to do freelance work, I know that once I have learned the skills and gained the connections in school, I will practically be at the finish line for my nearly lifelong goal of becoming an animator in a modest production studio.

Until recently, I thought I was the most typical sample for the American student demographic. My finances are moderate, my appearance isn’t anything noteworthy, and I could achieve course grades ranging between B’s and A’s during almost all of high school. It wasn’t until this year that I learned that other students don’t necessarily need to work as hard as I have my entire life. My grades were stellar, but at what cost? It turns out not everyone needed 2 hours to complete their math worksheets and an additional 90 minutes to proofread essays prior to submission. I was just like everyone else in my class, apart from this, I guess. I distinctly remember my teachers during conferences would always point out how “You’re a joy to have in class with how social and adaptable you are with other students, but you sometimes fail to complete your work in time with your lack of attention”. I just took this comment that I was overly social, and maybe that’s why my home and class work took longer, but more disappointment came with the next sentence that followed this: “Mr. and Mrs. Lydon, your daughter is lovely, but she is often a distraction in class”. It’s a strange feeling to be told you’re a distraction. On one hand, I’m glad that people found me entertaining enough to sacrifice their workflow; on the other, it’s a shameful reminder that I struggle to stay as focused as the students around me. Although this was hard to hear, and I never wanted to have these words repeated to me, I couldn’t just stop being myself out of nowhere. These were the more obvious signs, looking back, that I wasn’t exactly the norm in my class. The more times I look back and bring it up to my provider, the greater the realization is. At the time, I just figured that everyone else would have days they would rather stare at the ceiling blankly than even think about moving a muscle. I thought it was normal to check if I set an alarm twice before bed and once after I lay down as I couldn’t take chances running late again. Doesn’t everyone need to set 20 reminders throughout their day to take out the trash, do their homework, shower, eat dinner, and go to sleep in a timely manner? I only learned recently that these habits were not the average teen’s behavior. Over the last 2 years, I have learned more about myself than I ever could, thanks to my psychologist and psychiatrist. I got answers to why somedays I just want to sit down and make my thoughts shut up, or why I need a planner so direly. It’s no secret that I’m ADHD and have had past struggles with GAD, social anxiety, and depression in the past 5 years. Both my family and mental health providers do an amazing job at checking in with me and making sure I’m doing well. My anxiety and ADHD may still be present in a large majority of my life, but I have learned ways to deal with these 2 weights. As previously stated, I use a planner for almost everything in my life, and those 20 or so reminders are even more helpful in college. I have learned over this year, especially that I may not be the average student, but I have many ways to succeed as much as others; it just takes more effort. The most important thing I can do while studying in my planned times is to take breaks to prevent burn out.

Trying to find where my love of art stemmed from is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The farther I look back in my memory the more hazy everything becomes as that's just how memories are. The most clear way I can put how I learned to love art was immersion. I have been drawing longer than I can remember, as all artists must start somewhere; that is normally taking a stray pack of markers or crayons from my older brother and scribbling a "masterpiece" onto my parent's once bland wall. Though decedent, the memories that lead to me loving art mostly point to the pieces around me in my home or from around St. Louis as my grandma would take me around town to see museums as a simple yet effective way to keep a toddler stimulated on rainy days. I started drawing by illustrating how I saw and interpreted the curious new world around me. The exhibits including Lego sculptures at The Magic House children's museum down the road, or my interpretations of the world and characters in the various "Rainbow fairy" books my mom would read to me before bed were among some of the notable items I would try to sketch with an improper grip, poor memory of source material, and adorable reassurance from my parents insisting that my new scribbles of incomprehensible lines and colors were deemed fridge worthy or even letter-to-the-grandparents worthy. While I may have not known what I was doing nor doing it in an efficient and clean process, I still managed to do one of the most important aspects when creating art. I was just having fun. Often I now get too caught up in trying to make my art presentable and full of purpose, but I often forget some of my best memories with art are normally the fun pieces that may look sloppy at times or have no overarching message, but art doesn't have to be perfect or deep. It just has to be fun to create and full of emotion. As for my favorite artist? I would say a fellow named Scott Christian Sava. He owns a YouTube channel that's followed by two million subscribers including myself, all of which are deserved. Sava is an extremely down-to-earth artist who reminds his audience of artist numerous lessons that wouldn't traditionally be taught in art classes or even by practice. These lessons include: "How to know when your art is truly finished", "Why you should make "bad art", and "Did I ruin a sketchbook with bad art?". The best part about these videos, especially any that mention "bad art" is that he talks about how no drawing is bad nor ever finalized, even if a piece cannot be saved in your eyes there always is another page to turn to or another canvas to start on. The only thing that can stop an artist according to Sava is the fear of creating something "bad" despite the fact art is never bad, just not up to expectations. Sava's best piece of advice however has been one I have lived by and I will continue reminding myself until I sketch my last drawing, "Just have fun with it." Well put Sava, well put.

I’m not too keen on live action movies, meanwhile my family prefers them. I tend to dislike content that devolves from unsavory memories, but my family finds these movies entertaining. There are only a few things that me and my 4-person family can all enjoy together. These two items are the Christmas season and lighthearted comedies. The former of the two must be executed in a near perfect way as almost is not all of my entire family consists of perfectionists. This can generate a large amount of friction and stress between each other in situations where it is not warranted. All this aversion ceases on Christmas eve after all the food has been cooked, decorations have been hung, and plates are then served on the living room table. My family then starts our favorite holiday tradition; watching National Lampoons Holiday Vacation. This originally started because of my parents enjoying the majority of the regular vacation movies, but something about Christmas vacation made the holidays more special to them, and gave them a sense of comfort. ~ Everyone in a way is like a Griswold. All the vacation movies, but especially Christmas vacation are relatable because they highlight the forgotten parts of all the normal holiday cliches. Some of these notable moments may be ones we remember but just keep to ourselves. This makes Christmas vacation both relatable and more realistic than most if not every other Christmas or non-Christmas movie at times. Where hallmark shows the acquisition of a large Christmas tree being a fun, easy, bonding, or even romantic experience in their movies; National Lampoon presents the mistakes a common man could make such as forgetting his ax to cut the tree, or the unsafe road conditions of the holiday season. Once the tree is in the home it only continues to stick out like a sore thumb as its over cumbersome size dwarfs the room it resides in. In a classic and predictable Christmas movie family comes together in order to help the main character celebrate Christmas or to reach their desired traditional goals. In Christmas vacation family only creates roadblocks in Clark’s path to celebrating Christmas the same way he did when he was young. He wants to re-experience the perfect Christmas but both his family and himself keep preventing this from occurring. These discrepancies are what make this movie so real and intriguing to watch with your own family. ~ This tradition my family holds is used to highlight how nobody will ever have the Christmas they imagine. No matter how simple the plan is, a celebration will never be 100% as expected, but that’s what makes them fun. Our mistakes and impatience is what makes the holiday season memorable and human. If every Christmas was perfect, then we wouldn’t remember them as individual holidays. In my opinion one mistake is easier to remember than one-hundred perfect days in a row. Will these mistakes sometimes become too much to handle? Of course! That’s true for both real families and the Griswold's. The most enjoyable Christmas will never be a perfect one, but one where you can laugh back at the mistakes eventually in the same way Clark Griswold would.

Picture this if you will; it's a rainy and rumbling night. The temperature is still blazing despite the torrential downpour. Even though it's about 10PM you decide, "I wonder what anime Netflix has right now." The usual big names such as "One Piece" or "Inuyasha" are visible, but an unfamiliar but eye-catching result appears in the middle of the sci-fi section. An anime called "Orbital Children" shall now become the only input to your life for about 5-6 hours if you decide to watch the short series in one sitting. I promise once you pick it up, you will not be able to put it down. -This is my personal summary of "Orbital Children" also known as "The Orbital Children". The first few characters the audience is introduced to include two children who were born on the moon, who now permanently reside on a space station that mimic the environments of the moon in some areas and the earth in others. These two kids are named: Toya, a careless and reserved older brother type who was the 2nd to last surviving moon child and Konoha, a more caring yet shy younger sister archetype whose "implant" that the two children received, is now causing severe health complications. This makes her extremely frail in appearance and manner. Luckily these two kids have caregivers such as the A.I. "12" and a nurse named "Nasa". After the audience gets to meet the "Orbital Children" if you will, we are introduced to our earth based humans. These are three contest winners named: Mina (A phone obsessed blogger), Taiyo (The know-it-all who often gets under Toya's skin), and Hiroshi (Minas younger yet surprisingly smart brother). The cast of the moon-born and earth-born kids eventually meet after they arrive on the station. Toya vocalizes his distaste towards the kids from earth through some resentment of the actions of previous earth-born people. This includes the creation of the implant meant to improve him and Konoha's survival which only hindered it, as well as the whole missing to have humans live on the moon in general. The earth based kids just brush off his criticism and keep following their tour guide in an effort to grow accustomed to this resort-like experience for them. The only two children who really hold beef between each other are Taiyo and Toya. While Taiyo is rule follower or even enforcer are times, Toya is pretty lenient to the point of illegally modifying his drone "Dawky" to do service tasks it wasn't programmed for. Taiyo takes note of Toya's disrespectful actions and tries to discipline him by threatening Toya with his own contrasting drone. Taiyo has a more powerful drone due to his dad being part of a judicial authority, unlike Toya who only overclocked his drone. After the two have their scuffle the inhabitants of the space station start to notice strange behaviors occurring. Unknown meteors, unexpected missiles, and strange terrorist threats emerge until finally the ship's power is knocked out. In a state of confusion, both the earth-children, moon-children and Nasa must figure out who or what is behind these actions, as well as how to escape their grasps safely. Before they get off the ship at this point, the crew must first escape the now unfunctional elevator shaft. This anime is a complex mystery that is enjoyed best when one connects the pieces as they watch. The fun part about solving Orbital Children's mystery is that once you finish the show, you can rewatch it and notice the clues that hinted to the now obvious answer to the mystery.

Breana Lydon Junior(Class of 2025) 6 December 2023 WildXYZ Scholarship The Path to Creation Despite being cliche, for as long as I can remember I have had an interest in two things; I enjoy creating stories and drawings to expand or inspire them. This has evolved from creating small doodles to pass the time, to interpreting dreams, and later the wandering thoughts in my head. Interpreting the chaos and discord in my hyperactive mind has become a fascination to both me and my family. Many Saturday mornings we will wake up, turn on the T.V in silence until I crack the question, “So what did everyone dream about?” In this time my parents will take a sparse amount of time to give a quick briefing on their dreams. My moms will always be more in-depth than my fathers due to her own passion for art. I like to believe she is the reason I am so drawn to creative endeavors. Once my turn occurs, a good 15 minutes can be taken up, if the dream had enough going on; assuming my memory isn’t being stupid I can use the large amount of visual and echoic details to create my surreal settings in my drawings. The best example of this is my swirled blue and pink sunset seen in my first mushroom drawing I did in Junior year. I have been utilizing my wild mind for art longer than I can remember. I wish to pursue education in the arts because I want to master my storytelling skills through digital animation courses, as well as to get used to creating animated content on a tight schedule that still holds a standard to quality. I feel that art school would be an appropriate setting for me because I can only learn so many of the basics from my own exploration and self-learning which is why I plan to attend structured in-person classes. I also want to improve my ability to keep quality work being produced on a schedule. In the career field, I want to go into I will have to meet an unthinkable amount of deadlines for the team I will work with or just with production in general. I’m not too bad with meeting deadlines at the moment, but I feel I could always improve this skill and diminish my slight habit of procrastination by attending courses for professional animation. In relation to professional behavior, I may also be able to connect and find opportunities with studios in the art school environment via representatives who will visit for presentations or with an expanded portfolio that would contain more work from classes. During and after my art education I plan to create my own small animated works, while afterward, I plan to do longer productions like full-length episodes in series. The decision I’m currently trying to make is whether I should focus on a career in just indie animation with my own or another studio, or if I should go to the big leagues in a well-known studio such as Sony or Warner. No matter where I end up, I want to stay determined to make my stories heard amongst those in the world who need to pick me up. I want to continue my longest interests of creating stories, art, and helping others. -Breana Lydon

Breana Lydon [breana.l.art@gmail.com] Nintendo Super Fan Scholarship 9/11/2023 While it's not the most popular game among Nintendo’s catalog, it sits on the golden throne in my heart. The game I am talking about is Nintendo’s first dip into the 3rd person shooter pool, Splatoon. The series as a whole is my most talked about interest, just ask any of my friends. The game was able to pull me in for a variety of reasons ranging from its energetic music, enthusiastic community, or its graffiti-punk-skater aesthetic. The most personal reasons I love Splatoon however, boils down to two main aspects; The lesson it teaches and the bonds it forms. Starting with the lesson, while it's not told by the story it holds just as much narrative value. In my experience Splatoon teaches us as people that we will fail, it doesn't matter if we have people supporting us or dragging us down. We as humans aren't perfect and will stumble. Do we fail forever? no we never. Is losing always a short process, absolutely not. The amount of “Splatfest” I have won compared to playing is an embarrassing ratio, but I don’t ever stop playing them. When your Inkling loses in Splatoon 2, you can see they're physically upset, almost as if saying “I give up!”. We as the player make them continue though. Despite them wanting to take a break, you say “one more match, and then I’m done”. If you lose, you lose it's only a game afterall. If you win however, you triumph not only over the enemy team but the doubt that was holding you back. The doubt that was making you want to throw your console into the trash. I have said on too many occasions to count, “I hate this game!” or “Why do I play this!” If I didn't have those moments of failure, the feeling of getting back up to finish what I started or even achieving a surprise “Splatfest” win is more powerful than anything I could feel in any other game. In highschool this feeling of giving up can easily poke its nose into sight, but I try to remember how easy it is to pull through; how great it feels to triumph. My second point is Splatoons strange ability to form unlikely bonds. Splatoon honestly helped me meet some wonderful people in my life. To start, was a boy in my art class. At the time he was just getting into the Switch. I at this time was trying to start a competitive team. We had a plan to gather some more people we knew, but then COVID-19 messed up our original plan. I later sent him an email as well as two twins who I was also becoming good friends with who were interested in joining. The team, unfortunately, didn't last too long for many circumstances. Frankly, we all enjoy the game a lot more as casuals now. I say now because the twins and I run the school animation club together and the boy from the beginning hung out so much we started to date temporarily. Sadly we both were too busy to stay together but we still are amazing friends and play Splatoon together. These connections are ones that I could never form in any other community. These are some of the best people I have met in my entire life. Without this game, I would have almost never been able to get to meet them.The co-op mode may not work the best, but the fun and memories it produces will never be forgotten.