It can be nearly impossible to say what one attribute makes a person unique since there is a high probability that others in the world also share that attribute. However, I do not believe that this means people are not unique; rather, it is the combination of many attributes and experiences a person has that makes them like no other. Each person has their own individual life that no other human will be able to fully replicate. With this in mind, I believe that my uniqueness comes in part from how I was raised and the choices I've made throughout my life. First, I will highlight my background. I have five siblings, which has made me attuned to them and let me grow to be good at handling conflict as well as taking care of young children. My dad was in the Air Force, which gave me a much different childhood than most other kids. I moved states about ten times and it exposed me to many different people and parts of the country. I also had to learn how to say goodbye and let go of friendships very early on in my life. I was constantly made aware of the fluidity of life and how quickly change can come. I believe this has given me strengths. I am good at adjusting to situations and making the best of things. I can use these strengths to help those in my community who might need understanding when it comes to being exposed to new places and experiences. My choices have also played a big part in who I am today. I've consistently enjoyed trying out new passions throughout my life, particularly creative ones. I do my best to maintain a healthy balance between doing what I love and building up skills for the future. I've picked up many hobbies despite sometimes feeling embarrassed that I might be starting at a later age than many. For example, I decided to pick up dance at the age of around eleven or twelve. I had to go to classes with children much younger than me, and with moving states, I switched studios multiple times and had to start over often, but I worked hard to move up and get better through the challenges. By the time I was fourteen, I was in advanced classes with those even older than I was. Yes, I was not perfect, and some days it was hard to keep up, but my work ethic and passion for the art propelled me forward to eventually be able to go en pointe. It is an accomplishment I am still quite proud of. I hope to encourage those in my community to never give up on something they are passionate about, and that it is never too late to start something new. I am currently earning my Bachelor's degree in animation, and I have loved the journey this craft is taking me on. I've learned new things about myself, pushed my limits, and I have many plans for the future. I want to make projects that bring excitement, emotion, and even learning opportunities to anyone who experiences them. I hope to create beautiful art that draws people in and delivers messages of positivity to them. A long-term goal of mine is to animate video games that connect people through cooperation. I truly believe that even the smallest rays of hope delivered through art and games have the potential to change someone's life.

Painting can be the most agonizing experience a person attempts. Yet, once a creative spark exists and the artist feels compelled to see it through, magic can happen. Brush strokes bring a vision to life. For me, using watercolors can be a freeing experience. With the vibrant colors and flowing medium, it is therapeutic at times. The paint spreads in a gloriously satisfying way. Yes, the occasional frustration occurs when it bleeds or a specific area doesn't turn out as imagined, but that comes with any creative project. I believe it is an artist's job to learn how to adapt and live with those things that at first might be "flaws" or "annoyances". Better still, the artist learns from it. Each new piece is an improvement and a whole new experience. For as long as I can remember, my family has encouraged an appreciation for the arts. I have fond memories of doing watercolor pieces with my grandma and my sisters. When we go to her house, we love to all craft together. Watercolor is one of our preferred mediums when we paint together for how much fun we can have with it, along with it not requiring too much setup or cleanup. I'm sure my parents were glad about that. Years ago, my grandma gifted each of us older kids in my family a little travel-sized watercolor kit, and I still keep mine with me and use it to this day. My family has supported me immensely in my career choices. It is something I am quite grateful for. Though I am not going into watercolor specifically, I am pursuing the arts as an animation major. I do 3D work as well as continuing to study traditional art to improve my understanding. Knowing the rules of traditional art makes me able to apply those techniques to my other creative projects, like animating. I find it to be very valuable. As for my two watercolor examples, the fairy piece is a recent one that I completed just last Fall. I knew I wanted to paint something magical, and I've always loved fairies. I compiled pictures I liked for inspiration and composed it with line art before adding the watercolor. I am quite fond of how the colors turned out. The landscape was not as recent. A few years ago, my family and I visited the mountains. We went on a lovely hike with beautiful scenery. There was a waterfall, a cute flower field, some cabins, and trees as far as the eye could see. My older sister and I found a spot in the field that we particularly liked, and I found a way to carefully sit on a little patch without grass in the middle of the field so she could take pictures. We took many photos that we really liked, but for a drawing class, I found one picture with a particularly nice composition and decided to make it a watercolor piece. The mountain painting is the result.

From a young age, I have loved art, and my family has supported me consistently in this. They believe in my ability to succeed while still doing what I am passionate about, which is something I am endlessly grateful for. Now, as a freshman in university, I am privileged to be able to pursue my dream job of computer animation. I took an animation class in my junior year of high school and it was perfect for me. It mixed my interests in technology and art, and I was able to excel at it. I took animation again the following year and decided I would make it my career. My animation teacher inspired me and cheered me on as I applied for college and eventually got into the university I now attend, which has robust animation and game development programs. Along with that, it requires all students to take business classes and other core classes that will help those of us that become entrepreneurs with our art. My goal now is to develop my skills, build up an impressive portfolio, graduate confidently, and eventually work at a game design company or animation studio. As a long-term goal, I would love to be able to design and animate multiplayer story games that bring family and friends together in positive ways. I enjoy playing those types of games with my boyfriend since we are long-distance now and they are a wonderful way for us to feel closer, but it is hard to find a variety of fun and beautiful games that are for two players and not only one player. I hope to bring more of those lovely games to the world and encourage others to bond in that way as well. Shared animated media impacts families and friends more than we often give them credit for. My sisters and I bond over animated films that we watched in our childhood and still reference to this day. They make us laugh, give us opportunities for deeper discussion, and sometimes launch us off into hilarious debates. Animated stories transported my sisters and me into different, fun, fantastical realities when our real life constantly changed. Our dad was in the military until very recently, so my family would move every two years while I was growing up. While friends would come and go, my sisters and I had each other (and my younger brothers eventually too), and we had our movies and games to laugh about. Even better, some movies and games helped us feel more understood. We could relate to characters who had to go to new places and adapt even when it was difficult. We could point at the person on the screen and say, “I feel like they do, too.” Animated media can encourage positive messages and behavior in people all over the world by sharing powerful stories, in the form of both films and games. Animated works carry emotion with them. Experiencing that emotion with others is a wonderful way to bring about closer relationships and empathy. That is the kind of experience I hope to deliver to the people who watch or play the projects I make. This scholarship would help me in achieving my goals of developing my skill in my craft and reaching my full potential in the field of animation. With this scholarship, I’ll be able to spend more time practicing and spending time on my studies rather than on part-time work. I hope to continue to grow and hone my skills to become the best I can be.