Life is rarely linear and constantly fluctuating. Financial instability in my life is a relevant example, exacerbated by my mother’s declining health and my father seeking out contract work when available. As Epictetus would put it in his series of essays the “Discourses”, life’s elements are organized between controllable and uncontrollable circumstances. This concept deeply impacted my thoughts about my university career and past hardships. Wrestling with whether my transfer from Cornell University was a controllable or uncontrollable circumstance was unbearingly challenging. My greatest obstacle was fighting against the internal guilt of seemingly throwing away a golden ticket toward a better life for my family. Doubt and defeat clouded my mind as my parents willingly took on a greater financial hardship during my transfer for the sake of my happiness. Attending an Ivy League was the result of unyielding determination. Why, of all times, leave when the fruits of my labor had just begun to blossom? Uncontrollable or not, learning that my dreams and aspirations could align with improving my family's quality of life was a crucial lesson. Staying at Cornell was possible, but it limited my passion for 3D Digital Design. The future seemed uncertain: That did not mean success was now unattainable. Relieving financial hardship within my family remained a goal. Arts and Design careers are often stigmatized as less impactful and valuable than STEM fields. This very stigmatization became my motivation. Design is a quintessential aspect of society that can positively impact the entire world. Design is pursuable by anyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, background, or circumstance. Therefore, my journey became an example to others, proving that dreaming beyond practical challenges is possible. 3D Digital Design allows me to dream without any limits. From fantastical virtual worlds to highly detailed industrial design, my works prove that design is applicable across multiple fields in a variety of capacities. It counters the view of my life as a working-class minority forced into academic achievements as a “way out.” My story evolved beyond necessity, showing others that everyone deserves to dream alongside practical challenges. Epictetus’s wisdom in “Discourses” resonates with me: “Demand not that things happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do, and you will go on well.” My family’s financial situation, my decision to transfer schools, and societal perceptions are all parts of my lived experience that have matured my purpose and passions. Rather than wishing my situation was different, continuing to walk on my unique path as a student, individual, and designer is more substantive. Such situations are no longer hardships—they are circumstances that inform the next step forward toward attaining my goals. Being awarded the CJM Rampelt Family Legacy Scholarship would help me make significant progress toward my dream of becoming a designer and leading by example. Such a development would empower my story and therefore equip, educate, and embolden my community. Resources previously inaccessible to me that would improve my aptitude as a student would immediately become available as a result. For instance, my attendance at this year’s 2024 SIGGRAPH conference as a selected student volunteer, a highly competitive position on a national level, would have been possible if I had better financial resources made available to me. This is how I believe Epictetus would have wanted his ideas in “Discourses” implemented. By the sharing of one’s ideals centuries ago, my winding road in life appears straighter for the benefit of myself and others.

In an increasingly technological world, it is my responsibility as a designer to utilize this new tool for the betterment of my surrounding community. I aim to become highly skilled in lighting, shading, rigging, and conceptualization so that I can generate speculated, fantastical worlds. These worlds, these stories, however, are ultimately extensions of our own. This is seen most prevalently within the legendarium of Tolkien: The Lord Of The Rings. Tolkien's intention for creating the fantasy tale was to provide a story meant to re-imagine and build upon Pre-Christian religions and Norse mythologies found within Anglo-Saxon culture. What a precedent that opens up endless possibilities for our current technological methods of storytelling! The current age is equipped with software capable of rendering hyper-realistic structures and landscapes used within various forms of media: movies, games, and even commercials! These fantastical worlds - which reflect very real lessons and events - can now be visualized to generate a more impactful and immersive experience. Utilizing this new, revolutionary medium for storytelling cannot be done alone. Once engaging myself within the Pennsylvania College Of Art and Design's community, I aim to develop a network of like-minded animators, modelers, and writers who share my vision and passion. Using this network, I would like to establish a company that assigns freelance designers to work on projects specifically focused on generating enticing stories complemented with immersive visuals meant to re-imagine African, Indian, and Central Asian customs, religions, histories, and stories. To reform longstanding, incorrect, and destructive beliefs about non-western stories and customs: I mean to rewrite centuries of misrepresentation established by past works of media. Perhaps, in a sense, I see these misrepresented stories as an extension of my childhood. I observed my father face social exclusion and racial discrimination from our surrounding community. It saddened me that these incorrect and predated notions about his character - and my family's character as a whole - stemmed from a disagreement about skin color. I decided to make my life the counterexample to each wrongfully cast prenotion made by these destructive thought processes. It is in the same spirit that my creative work is driven. I have a unique opportunity to reach masses across the world, to redirect how we view one another socially for the benefit of all: This is the great potential I see within my career field and entrepreneurial goal.

My name is Chavito Allen - I am African American and Puerto Rican German. My ultimate aspiration is to become a designer capable of telling stories that revolutionize the way people think and treat others. After attending Kempsville High School's Entrepreneurship and Business Academy, I enrolled in Cornell University's Architecture Program for its reputation as a design mega-hub. However, this semester I have decided to transfer to another program whose curriculum better fits my aspiring specialization: 3D Digital Modeling and Technical Art. In an increasingly technological world, it is my responsibility as a designer to utilize this new tool for the betterment of my surrounding community. I aim to become highly skilled in lighting, shading, rigging, and conceptualization so that I can generate speculated, fantastical worlds. These worlds, these stories, however, are ultimately extensions and reflections of our own. This is seen most prevalently within the legendarium of Tolkien: The Lord Of The Rings. While doing a research paper on Middle-Earth last semester, I found that Tolkien's intention for creating the fantasy tale was to provide a story meant to re-imagine and build upon Pre-Christian religions and Norse mythologies found within Anglo-Saxon culture. What a precedent that opens up endless possibilities for our current technological methods of storytelling! The current age is equipped with software capable of rendering hyper-realistic structures and landscapes used within various forms of media: movies, games, and even commercials! These fantastical worlds - which reflect very real lessons and events - can now be visualized to generate a more impactful and immersive experience. But to whom can this impact be targeted, and what is the total span of its influence? I would argue our entire globe! We can observe the use of technology as an international phenomenon through social media and its diffusion of trends across national borders. Utilizing this new, revolutionary medium for storytelling cannot be done alone. Once engaging myself within the Pennsylvania College Of Art and Design's community, I aim to develop a network of like-minded animators, modelers, and writers who share my vision and passion. Using this network, I would like to establish a company that assigns freelance designers to work on projects specifically focused on generating enticing stories complemented with immersive visuals meant to re-imagine African, Indian, and Central Asian customs, religions, histories, and stories. To reform longstanding, incorrect, and destructive beliefs about non-western stories and customs: I mean to rewrite centuries of misrepresentation established by past works of media. Perhaps, in a sense, I see these misrepresented stories as an extension of my childhood. I observed my father face social exclusion and racial discrimination from our surrounding community. It saddened me that these incorrect and predated notions about his character - and my family's character as a whole - stemmed from a disagreement about skin color. I decided to make my life the counterexample to each wrongfully cast prenotion made by these destructive thought processes. It is in the same spirit that my creative work is driven. I have a unique opportunity to reach masses across the world, to redirect how we view one another socially for the benefit of all: This is the great potential I see within my career field and entrepreneurial goal.