My name is Gabrielle Burnett. I am a sophomore art major and art history minor at Spelman College. I have wanted to study the arts, specifically animation since I was in the fourth grade, and throughout high school, I began to expand my reach and knowledge of art careers in various art classes. I continued to do the same at Spelman, where I began as an Art major. As I began to expand my talents, I saw that art history also interests me a lot as an artist, wanting to preserve art and be able to describe art academically. As I continue to explore the art history minor, I feel the pull to double major in art and art history to become a well-rounded artist with a niche in applying art history skills to all of my animated works. I hope to use my degree to further my animation and freelance work education by getting my MFA at an art school like the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). In the meantime, while I am working on my degrees, I plan to start and open my art commission business, in which I take commissions prompted by buyers to create the art they request. While also taking commissions, I will sell finished prints of art or the originals of my artwork on my website, with the prices changing depending on the sizing of the art or materials. Still, it is cheaper than commission pricing since it is my finished original work. At Spelman, I am known for being a go-getter and always busy doing some work around the school. I check my email daily to see if any volunteer opportunities are available on campus, like helping set up our Homecoming in the fall or helping pass out free products from vendors working with the school. I am most interested in community service opportunities that help clean up the community, give back to those less fortunate, or interact with nature. This spurred from my work in my high school NHS ( National Honors Society), where we spend our Saturdays cleaning up the outskirts of the school and picking up trash. Working with campus groups like Breaking The Cycle allows me to help our community outside the Atlanta University Center, picking up trash along our neighboring streets. NHS, my faith, and my family have always inspired me to give back to those less fortunate through money, supplies, and clothes. I practice saving clothes rarely worn to give back for service opportunities, which happens throughout each school year of my life. I believe one of the best service opportunities one can take is giving back supplies to the community. I am still proud of my achievement of coordinating a supply drive with Refresh Frisco through my school orchestra. We collected hygiene products, prepackaged them into small bags, and drove those bags to their distribution center. They were so thankful to see high school students interested in helping their community directly. This leads me to my favorite opportunity: helping out with nature. At Spelman, I have worked with groups like WAWA ( West Atlanta Watershed Alliance) and Trees Atlanta. At WAWA, I learn about the history of Atlanta while completing my service of cleaning pathways or digging up invasive species. At Trees Atlanta, we plant trees in area that have low density to bring fresher air to our urban communities. My experiences at Spelman, my studies, and my community service have reshaped how I view art. This scholarship will help me continue to grow as a community member through art and service.

The one series I can watch repeatedly would have to be "Fruit Basket." It was the first manga I could read through mostly at my public library, and the whole series became available to me as we got subscription services. This series is close to my heart because it was when reading was one of my only forms of joy and escapism from my life. It was comforting to see the story of Tohru Honda being devastating, but she could still overcome her challenges with a smile. She got help by being honest about her story, even when she wanted to hide from her friends. They reminded her that she was a good person and needed good things to happen, and she was never a burden to the people around her. That part of her story meant so much to me growing up, as life would become rocky between my family and me. I learned to keep a smile on my face, not to worry people, and to be honest about my story is what helped me get into one of my dream schools. To this day, like Toru, I have to remind myself that it is okay to reach out for help when I need it and that I am not a burden to anyone because I need the help. The other things that keep me rereading and watching the series are the romance part of the story and the mystery of the Sohma Family. The love triangle between Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru was so entertaining, going between the hot head and the class favorite. It was not like the normal " will they won't they" situation but a complex situation that spreads within family dynamics. Kyo is the way he is because of how Yuki and the rest of the family treat him, so of course, he acts aggressively to others until they show him kindness. That was a lesson I needed going through grade school. While my situation may have taught me to act a certain way, I do not have to follow that plan because the rest of the world is kinder than I think. So when Kyo and Tohru get together by the end of the series, it is heartwarming because he is a newly healed being who deserves more love. He always deserved love. I deserved to love others and to be loved by them as well. Last is the Sohma family secret, and to not continue to spoil the story, I will give what the author was trying to symbolize. I believe the family curse was actually more about generational trauma and literally breaking the cycle. Just because we were born into a family that gave us certain rules on how to act does not mean we have to perpetuate those standards into the next generation. Some actions must be broken after a certain period before they become toxic in behavior, which is the Sohma family's goal. I took this on as I matured, learning that I no longer needed to follow the toxic rules my family set forth to keep our "honor." I now live a happier lifestyle than the rest of my family after breaking the cycle, and I hope, like the Sohma family, we can all come together in peace as we heal. "Fruit Basket" is a romance anime classic that will be close to my heart. Each time I rewatch this anime, I learn a new lesson to add to my life. I wonder what more I will learn this year in my rewatch.

I have always enjoyed the "New Super Mario Bros series," particularly the Wii U and Wii games. I would repeatedly replay the game to challenge myself to get all the coins in the levels or hit the top of the flag pole at the end. I consider the most recent game, Mario Wonder, a little sibling to this series because they still keep the logic of collecting three coins and hitting the top of the flag pole to complete each level 100%. However, "Mario Wonder" is missing something that made the older games special and unique. They have gotten rid of the chaos of co-op play. No longer can you grab another player and throw them down the pits just because you are upset that your sibling has the first controller. You no longer have the choice to leave a player in a bubble as you rush to complete the level yourself, all the rewards going towards you. However they did carry on the crown function for the player with the most points, which allows the camera to follow that player only, which is a little chaotic in comparison. I am the resident gamer girl in my family, and I love using chaos to my advantage when I want to keep that title. Some might say that it is mean or unfair of me to pick out family members who had not played the game before under the guise of family bonding to absolutely crush their souls as I leave them behind in the dust. I also believed in not hand-holding the player; each person had the basic game controls known; however, I would not tell them how to be just as chaotic as me. This particular playthrough of " New Super Mario Bro's U" started as any other with my aunt. My childlike attitude caused her to want to bond with me over games. Now, my aunt is not unfamiliar with Mario, just how he has changed since the last game she played was "Mario Bros 3." The first few worlds go as smoothly as they should because everyone should have the chance to learn how to play the game. Although she does not understand why the camera only follows me or why I have so many more points than her. Chaos starts in the first level of the ice world. It is wonderful to watch someone struggle to navigate the ice mechanics as they try so hard to jump before slipping off the platform. Each time, I did not quite make it. I gave my aunt time to adjust to the horror of the ice, and then I implemented the ability to use her as a platform to get ahead of the level. She was unaware she could do that not to slip all the time. Watching the rage set in as the play became more chaotic was wonderful. At first, she was upset with me for not explaining that she could do the same things. She would soon learn to grow within the chaos. Our playthrough of the game became one of our closest bonding times as we tried to find the funniest ways of sabotaging each other during key moments. It would soon become a yearly tradition for me to come and visit her with a new game and find ways to annoy the other player as we complete it. So yes, while I might have been a cruel kid to make her struggle playing a game, it brings us closer to each other every year.

My career in the arts will inspire others by standing by my mission statement that black kids are not limited to their background but limitless. What I mean by that is that my artwork is primarily illustrative comics with the hopes that I one day direct my animated series inspired by my works. In all of my artworks, I make sure to uplift the black community by showing the beauty of my culture and even pushing to show aspects of the culture that people ignore. There is this stigma in the black community that if one does not fit into stereotypical lines, they are not "black enough." I believe that is an unfair pressure to put on the next generation, and I plan to show black people doing various activities, wearing different styles of clothing, and pursuing career fields that black people are shunned. My artwork would then drive the younger generation to not listen to the no's of the majority race or from old generational traumas and embrace their true self with love and kindness. I know that any kid can be successful in their dreams if they believe in themselves and push themselves to work hard to achieve it. When I do begin to work on my shows, I do want there to be internet controversy. I need people of all ages to talk about the show, as in things that make them uncomfortable, and I want them to confront why they feel that way. Starting this discussion intergenerationally is what starts a spark within the next generation. It empowers them to change the world for the better, and they want to ensure that when they become the next adults having these conversations, they are not limiting the next group of children. I love creating artwork that causes my family to really think about the messages they put out to each other. I feel successful when I get my direct family to ask themselves what my art means to me and how they receive the message. While it might not change their opinion immediately, it begins the conversation, leading to research on the topic to strengthen their opinions or open up to a new perspective. Currently, my artwork is centered on the black woman and her place in society. I have made artwork that has criticized movements like civil rights and black lives matter for their lack of support for black women despite being started by black women for the safety of their families. Whenever I present a new piece of work, I love seeing how different groups react to it. I've had teachers go home, think about the messages I put out, and even start difficult conversations with loved ones inspired by me. I love seeing the challenge people face to find deeper meaning in my work and apply it to their lives. As long as my work continues to do this, the world will be a better place.

Arts education has impacted my life by providing me with a safe space to be myself. I found it challenging to make friends growing up, and the only thing that comforted me was drawing or painting to pass the time at school. Eventually, all that time I spent alone drawing opened a pathway to a career. Thanks to an interest in cartoons and people on youtube who posted videos on how to draw my favorite characters, I began to seek out the animation industry at 11 years old. This led me to research how to get into work at Disney and what type of education I needed. So since I was 11, I planned to go to school at California Art Institute, become an intern at Disney for four years at school, and then pitch my idea to Disney and begin to run my animated series. Unfortunately, a lot of my plans did not work out. California Art Institute rejected me, and currently enrolled in an art program at an HBCU, which is also not working out because school is unaffordable for my family. However, I am not giving up. The people who inspired me the most were the ones who, as their job titles, had to interact with me, teachers. I struggled to make friends by found it increasingly easier to talk to teachers and administrators as a replacement for friends. They would sit and listen to me ramble about family life and my dreams. Most importantly, they would encourage me not to give up on my art since I would always doodle on assignments and give them drawings as gifts. I found more vigor in my craft when interacting with art teachers. Sometimes their critiques were a little mean, but they were necessary to grow my skill- as I also learned from Youtube. I lived every day to get good comments from them, and when I did get good remarks on art homework, it made me feel like a true artist. Eventually, that relationship changed from my art teachers giving critiques after I turned in or giving them art for me asking for critiques and learning not to take them to heart. Once I realized that skill, my art flourished. I flourished enough for teachers to ask me to paint their murals in their classrooms or to draw out examples for them to use for the rest of the day. I then began confidently to post my art on the internet, which, while they do not get much love, I know that they inspire others in their craft just as they did when I was growing up. If it were not for the fake and real encouragement given to me by my teachers, I would not continue to push through to making my art dreams into reality. I want to make those people proud, especially the ones who said they knew I could do great things and that all my goals are achievable with the work and love I put into my art. So while my dreams are shaky and seemingly impossible, I will do anything to make the impossible possible.

My culturally unpopular opinion is that the older generations are the ones who are genuinely “sensitive.” Every time you interact with the news or social media, there is a new opinion of the baby boomers and Generation X finding something to say about millennials and Generation Z. It is always about how our generations do not know how to find or keep a job or how to be helpful to the labor force. Recently it has begun to snowball into how our generations do not consume enough or have enough money to afford cheap things during their younger years. In their eyes, the younger generation is selfish and worthless because we do not have the same opportunities or thought processes as they did in their early 20s. That all boils down to the younger generation being sensitive and lazy. The older generations look at younger kids with such disdain that familial ties are constantly broken over the internet due to the older generation’s lack of respect for their descendants. They find any way to trash the younger generation and make them leave them to rot in nursing homes because, on the inside, the older generation is scared. They are so frightened of their future, mortality, and sense of belonging in society that they must project it onto someone else to make themselves feel better. The older generations needed to be loved growing up and never had that opportunity. They only see us as lowly or unable to put out the same work as them because millennials and Generation Z are taking care of their physical and mental health. The parents of this generation are doing the work to ensure they feel loved and supported in their decisions. This hurts the ego of the older generation since they can survive without love. At least, that is the lie they have told themselves. The older generation is sensitive because they were not given enough love and attention as children. We watch time and time as older generations try to convince parents to continue a cycle of abuse that made them the strong workers they are. It is a cycle of pain they learned from their parents, who were not recovered from their traumas before having children. Their parents then instilled that their worth is held within what they can do for the workforce and how much money they make. So the older generation never gave themselves time to love themselves, instead selling their soul to make capitalism run. In turn, they took their anger and made their children miserable, making the Generation X that currently talks down on Millennials and Generation Z.Its also why the older generations will not give up their jobs or property that will allow the younger generations to move up in society because they fear that they will be worthless. This is why the older generations beat on us physically and mentally because, on the inside, they have not stopped hearing their parents’ voices that hit on them. Until the older generations let go of that voice, then this idea of younger generations being sensitive will dissipate. For now, the older generation will remain exposed for the sake of their unhealed inner child until they begin to do the work the younger germination has done for themselves. This continued trauma cycle will be the reason for me that older generations are “sensitive.”

Art has always been a way to express my emotions surrounding worldwide topics or community issues. While my art can take the burden of expressing complicated feelings sometimes, I get to draw my characters in funny scenarios. However, my humor has been stuck in the margins of my serious comic making. I am trying to break out of that cycle and make more comics suited to my type of serious humor. Recently I began a comic series of my characters, which I call “Cupids,” and one of their quests is to find love for themselves. The humor within the first page is that there are unlovable people, and there are dire consequences if they fall in love. For a Cupid, it would be losing its status. In reality, it is silly to think that there are unlovable people, which is something ingrained in today’s society. In the comics and culture, they tend to see people of color, women, and fat people as unloveable. The comic will display the thought of the majority who do not want these people to fall in love in real life, as I see so many comments on these groups of people “stealing lovers” and “being doomed to have failing relationships.”It is a silly idea to think anyone has the place to tell another person they are unlovable, even if it is a computerized algorithm saying so. As I would go on to continue the comic in the future, the heroine Cupid, would want to dismantle this system that unfairly makes people unlovable and find a way for Cupids to attain love themselves. My humor, as I declared before, is one of serious tone as I cannot seem not to make a statement about society in my art. I hope that one will be able to find the humor in some of the minor things added to the background of drawings or even the marginal thoughts of someone in the background. My art is made to make the viewers think about their own biases they can have around the subject and even persuade them to do some research of their own to build a strong case for their opinion. I hope that with this comic, people rethink their biases over POC, women, and fat bodies in relation to whether they deserve love. The goal is that they do not equate love to solely outside looks.

I had the best opportunity to improve my maturity in the past year. My Mother kicked me out of her house. I was not kicked out of her home due to being immature or acting out. If anything, I was an A/B student in all of my classes, making the honor roll often and completing all of my college applications as soon as possible. I rarely left the house to work on my art career or finish homework for class the next day. It would also help to mention that I was not particularly good at making and keeping friends anyway due to my shy, loner personality. This means I never got in trouble or grounded during my high school career. I was kicked out due to my Mother’s struggles with her mental health, as many others have struggled with in the COVID Pandemic. Being kicked out of my Mother’s house was a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to have a trial at being an adult before going to college. I got to make quick decisions. For instance, I was ensuring I could finish high school by finding a family friend to stay with. I had to learn how to budget weekly with what my father had given me to tide me over until I was under his roof for weekends. I had to learn how to keep the space I was allotted clean and tidy. I had to learn how to plan for transportation to school events—and stay on top of any emails from colleges about acceptance deadlines. The only issue I had was completing scholarships simply because I planned to defer for a year and distrusted online scholarships. While in the beginning, it was tough. I dropped the ball on important events because I was not used to my new way of life, but I still pulled through. I had adults around me to catch me when I fell through my father and family friend. In the summer, however, that began to change. I spent more time alone at my father’s place, and big decisions like spending time with family and handling moving into college were too crucial for me to mess up on. Having a therapist to help me acknowledge my immaturity allowed me to begin formulating ways not to miss important events and plan out a schedule that worked for me. I used to try to work in a way I have seen most adults do, like writing notes down in a notepad or agenda, and it never worked. Maturing is knowing that when a system does not work for you, you must create your own. I learned that my brain works in a set-it-and-forget-it workflow, which means if I do not see it, it does not exist. Which meant I was only harming myself by trying to conform to social standards of being responsible. Currently, my system uses multiple alarms through the calendar app, writing sticky notes around my living space about what I should do for the day and writing notes on my phone for quick access and memory. These constant and in-your-face reminders keep me on a good schedule and allow me to remember the essential things. I have not improved much in my social life because I still struggle to make and keep friends. As the second semester begins, I hope that will not be a problem for me next year. In the past year, I have truly learned what it means to continue to improve and not expect perfection.

What made me choose to pursue my degrees in art and animation is how I can change people’s lives using the media, and that art has been one of my constants. I have always been making art as my pass time and for profit. I began to take my hobby seriously around the fourth grade. At the same time, I began to learn about the people behind my favorite animated series. I then began to research schools for art and surround myself with educational media to teach myself some of the skills needed to get into the field. Of course, this began with the dream of going to CalArts in California and becoming a showrunner like Alex Hirsch or Aaron MacGruber, which was crushed once I got the expected rejection letter. So now I attend a school focusing more on STEM, meaning my art education is vastly different from my art school peers. The great thing about the art degree program is that I can work with a nearby art school to get my degree in animation. And in this semester, I have already broken down some assumptions I made for my animation career. I thought I would never want to work in 3D due to not liking the conditions surrounding modeling and rigging. However, when given time to create and explore different modeling programs, I now see that with time and education, falling back into the 3D animation world would not be as bad as I thought it would be. I also was able to take a sculpting class which I thought would be too difficult given most of my clay sculptures were not turning out the best. This class allowed me to experience other forms of sculpture by working with cardboard and carving out plaster. I even got to practice the process of selling my sculpture idea to a city would look like. so even if I feel like my education is less than because I do not attend an art school, I have learned more about my biases and mental blocks here than I would at art school. Then why have I not given up on my dream of animation despite not being able to begin studying it? Because I know I have a story to tell that may not save lives directly but impact those around me. In recent years I have seen more representation of POC and LGBT+ space. As a part of both minorities, I see what these shows have done for youth morale growing up. However, the presentation of said communities still has a lot of work needing to be done. I always hoped to make a show where people could find representation and hope for themselves. I know that I will not be able to represent everyone with my knowledge and research. It would be the mistake of most shows to claim that they have done the necessary learning but still alienate and harm the communities they wish to uplift. Therefore I want to experience many things worldwide and listen to people around me about their life experiences. And when I don’t have their stories, I will hire people of many backgrounds to work in the creation of my show in order to have good representation for and by the people of those communities. Hopefully, the rest of my studies in art in animation will continue to show me that I can work past my biases and mental blocks while also teaching me the skills necessary to sell any artwork.

As a student, I must have the skill set to manage my finances so that I do not graduate college with tremendous debt. Recently my school held an assembly for first-year undergrads with Chase and Kevin Hart. He gave us examples of how he fell into massive debt through his 20s due to simple mistakes every college student or 18-25 year old will find themselves in. He said he never saved money. Once Kevin got a check, he would spend all the money on whatever, which he said got worse after getting his big break and wanting to buy all the new things for his family. He noticed that if he was not spending money on his family, he was spending it on “wants” and not “needs” due to wanting to impress his peers with the idea of having “big money.” Kevin’s biggest tip to us to save and grow money was to put at least 25% more into a savings account. If one still can fall back or rely on their parents to finance them with the money, it is better to put any checks into one’s savings account and let it grow over time in college. This way, if one accumulates debt by the end of one’s time in undergrad, they have something to cover it. For day-to-day money management, he also said that if we took out the rest of the check, 25% to 35% went to bills, and anything we have left over from that should go to fun activities or things. Another of Kevin Hart’s key points is that one needs to leave a good amount of money in the savings account and carry enough cash around you daily to account for rainy days. One can never be too prepared for bad times; having that spare change around allows one to adapt to any problem swiftly. My takeaway from his speech at the end was to avoid or limit spending money on things that are not necessary for our success in school. Instead of trying to impress our peers with the newest gadgets, save by using what you have now until they are unusable and invest in something more durable. This semester, I have implemented saving any money I receive into my savings account, allocating a certain amount of money to spend when going out, and saving outside of the bank for rainy days. During the chase assembly, Kevin Hart did not touch on credit and debit cards which are usually ways teens and young adults get in trouble with money. In a time when one may not have to spend all of their own money and has been gifted a piece of plastic in their name to swipe to their heart’s content. While I currently do not pay the bills on my credit card now, I know in the future, that will change, hence why I have a system of not spending more than I make with my credit card. For example, if I can spend up to $200 with no issues, I will limit myself to $100 max. I use my debit card if I run low on any cash I need for daily purchasing by taking out enough to last for a month (which so far stretches two to three). That way, I can allow my money to earn interest in the bank. I am researching ways to be more money savvy with my credit/debit cards. The best way to manage my money is not to spend it unless I need to; otherwise, it is not worth it.

I am a silent upstander. I do not like to make a lot of noise despite my father believing that I am a little bit of a Malcolm X. I find that making a lot of noise tends to make your life very difficult. I like to be someone who works in the background because of my experiences living in Texas during my high school career. As a queer kid seeing anyone who made too much noise about a problem within the school system leaves them with a target on their back from classmates and parents. As a Black queer kid, the consequences are worse than being kicked out of a district; death is always on my mind. So I am silent, but not quiet; I still like to whisper. I wanted to whisper about how black kids felt unsafe with the school police office team that proudly hung a Blue Lives Matter flag in their office, along with a school that believed that police appreciation month deserved Blue Lives Matter flags hung in the hallway despite leaving nothing for black history month. I whispered a lot to teachers that because your schools felt it was okay to keep those flags up, I felt okay with seeing that same group of police officers reaching for their weapons as I walked in the hallways from lunch to class just because I was wearing a hoodie. It was my first year, and I understood that I needed to whisper, not yell, because when I did yell I was met with disbelief simply because I did not talk to anyone because I knew the officers would all say that they were merely scratching their backs. I remember feeling their eyes follow me up the staircase to where they could not see me anymore. When I told teachers to whisper and not yell once I revealed my truth senior year, I watched as their faces carried guilt because they also knew they could not scream. There was a point I did get to yell. I worked with a group called Diversify our Narrative. I got to write articles against the ban of Critical Race Theory in Texas schools, which was only a ban on teaching the truth of slavery and protecting white guilt. As a group, we went to a district school board meeting, and I watched as our members yelled our stores to a crowd of dead ears. At that point, I knew I had to leave that group because we were not unified with the same ideals. Earlier I gave an example of the unfairness of the school celebrating police appreciation, not black history. Well, after I whispered to teachers over the years and had a direct conversation with the principal of the school. They finally recognized that this month, in particular, did not make their school look good, especially if the black community kept whispering. From my junior year on, there were no signs of police appreciation, but enough for black history month. While their flag still hangs freely in their office, I know there is still a lot of whispering needed within schools to take them down. I give my father some credit for the connection to Malcolm X; at a time, the school did want my Black Student Association to back down. The principal whispered for us to have no power fists in our posters, and I spoke firmly, the flag will invoke more fear than a symbol of resistance. We still hung those posters up.

I chose to attend an HBCU ( Historically Black College and University) because I needed to learn about my black experience. My original college career plan was to go to an art school and study for an animation degree. My goal with my animation degree has always been to become a director of my own animated series that represents all aspects of black life. The only roadblock to making that show is that I myself have not experienced the black culture. In the past, I have lived in the black mecca of Chicago; only it was the suburbs and three hours away in a town that is not recognized. In school, I have always been one of the few black kids and of course one of the few if not only black girls in my classes. I found it unfair to say that I make art or create stories that are authentically black when I have been isolated from my culture. I would be a part of the problem that I actively am fighting against, to show that there is no one way to be black, and only knowing one way to be black defeats the purpose of the representation I claim to bring to the table. So when it came down to attending an art school or the gold mine of stories that Atlanta holds. I just had to go to Spelman. In my first three months, I have seen many different ways of being a black person in America due to the stories of my friends, classmates and the ones I make as I travel outside the campus. Now when I craft my stories and make my art, I no longer feel like I am lying to myself about the representation I bring to the table.

My favorite piece of art is Vivaldi's winter, It was my favorite song I ever heard played by my high school orchestra. I love this piece of music because Vivaldi's work flows like animation in anyone with a visual eye. That's actually how I came to like this piece due to having to create art to accompany the orchestra playing it. As I listen to the song I imagine a soft snowstorm, turning into a blizzard within the piece you can imagine how a town is reacting to the sudden weather changes through the song. It's not all doom and gloom however because Vivaldi composes times that feel like the story has ended and you work up on Christmas morning with lots of reflective soft white snow. The children get to play in the snow and the parents enjoy the peace and stillness they are given. However, darkness sets back in because the winter is lasting too long and there are still snowstorms happening. It's causing the village to fall into famine and the wealthy to only be low in food. The people shout to the wealthy for help and try to convince the storm to go away and let the sun through. After shouting for so long the people perceive the snowstorm as getting worse and feeling as if they are controlled by a merciless god. The town dies and the piece ends with a sting signifying spring on the way. Unforntionaly I was tasked with making a singular painting and not a cinematic masterpiece so I had to condense that whole story into just a snow goddess in the clouds controlling the weather. I made her look benevolent with her powers but we still see that one part of the clouds have more storms than others.

I directly help my community through my art by using it to draw attention to social/political issues. For example, a majority of my artwork is used to rectify the lack of positive representation in the black, fat, and LGBTQ+ communities. I make the art that I would have loved to see when I was younger because there was no content out there that genuinely reflected who I was. In the art that I have attached to this application, I spread the idea that every story matters in terms of representation. I wanted the viewer to feel like they are able to write and publish stories that had characters that are described like them and also raise awareness that we need more stories with positive representation. The artwork below was commissioned by a library to spread the narrative that consumers are in control over the types of stories that get published. The artwork itself was then surrounded by stories by underground and accomplished authors to reinforce that it is possible to write stories that relate to all readers. When I make artwork that directly helps the communities I represent usually the message is written clearly with the intent to act behind it. When my artwork indirectly serves my community it is still through representing minorities and creating the art I want to see but there is no clear social/political message with a call to action. This artwork would be considered my fun art or the art I make for work. I'm currently working on a couple of comic series in which all of the characters are unique and represent multiple groups. I do not make the characters this way to push an agenda but to make their worlds more realistic. In this way, I truly get to draw the things little me would have wanted to see but also what others want to see. For example, I made artwork for my social media of a Black alternative E-girl. I was drawing it because the character looked cute and I really enjoy the style. The artwork blew up online and I received messages from people saying they felt seen and they can relate to the artwork. For most black women in the alternative scene they are seen as less black and unworthy of a personality, my artwork allowed them to see themselves as leaders who push the boundaries of black stereotypes and fashion. There was no need for me to write a caption on how we needed more style representation because it was not my intent to rally up an idea. It was the community that found it to rally up the idea of needing more healthy representation after seeing my art. which would then make my artwork along with others indirectly start a movement within minority communities. At the end of the day, or really once I post my artwork, people are always impacted and inspired by what I make. Most of the time I can control how a community reacts to being represented and having their ideas spread out by making my call to action clear. However, I cannot discredit the times in which I had no call to action in the art but still allowed communities to use it spread their ideas. All I can do is make sure my art represents them positively and accurately.

The person who has influenced most of my decisions in my life is one of my good friends Gabrielle Okojie. Growing up she has always been one step ahead of me in life literally and figuratively due to meeting the school's birthday cut-off. When she would do things that would scare me to my core without thinking about it. It would give me the courage to do the same. I've always admired her sense of self-worth knowing that she could pull off any outfit and knowing that any person is lucky to have her in their presence. I've always worked off of her energy and gradually found myself becoming more courageous and fashionable due to being her friend. One of the biggest reasons I continue to pursue HBCUs to learn art is because I've been able to watch her flower and grow at JSU during her Freshman year. I knew that needed and wanted to have that same sense of community and belonging after seeing the good impacts of being surrounded by your culture. I will use my art skills when I graduate to change the world in the perception of black kids. I can specifically tell the life stories of the awkward black nerdy girl who is stuck in white suburbia and also navigates the thin line of code-switching personalities once she makes it home. I believe it's important for me to use my art skills to express my culture through my own lens to shed light on the diversity within the diaspora. In my AP portfolio this year I made self-portraits in which I drew myself as famous black people. I've attached some to this application but the big idea was to shed light on some of my own unconventional attributes. The research leading up to creating the artwork allowed me to see that my non-stereotypical archetypes have been seen in black people throughout the decades. Once I graduate from college and begin to work on my own animated series I want to continue to use the premise of the AP art portfolio and put that within my characters. I don't want all of my black characters to be cookie cutouts but each one with their own individuality can come together for important cultural events. I don't believe that I have any special skill that puts me above any other artist however I have been informed the way I explain my artwork is beautiful. I've always used my art to tell a story it does not matter if I'm making a comic book or an animation because each piece has a meaning behind my creating it. I think my innate need to tell a story is why Instagram was a weird social platform for me to get used to. To limit a caption of my artwork to less than three sentences and a few hashtags leaves the meat of the story gone. The only way I've coped with not making my Instagram captions for so long is to hope that my art is already strong enough for someone to find meaning in or for someone to ask me for the meaning and me to dump all the info on them. I also like to find the art piece within another piece of media. For example, as a musician each time I receive a new piece to play I visualize a piece of artwork to complement the music to play it better. I believe that my storytelling and the ability to make artwork out of stories and even music can be what makes me separate from other artists.

My educational goals lie within two schools. The reason for me splitting up my educational time between schools is because learning while fully grasping my culture is my top goal. Hence why my first goal in education is to graduate from Spelman College with a major in art. Once, I finish my major at Spelman I plan on transferring as many credits over to Savanah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and working on a master's in Animation. During my time at Spelman, I have the opportunity to work on credits that are directly tied to the degree I want at SCAD. I chose Spelman as a school to create art in because my art mainly focuses on black culture and black women. At the sisterhood of Spelman, I can observe how black culture interacts with gender and add a greater essence to my artwork. I can also add greater depth to my characters who are black by listening to the life stories of my roommates and viewing college life as a new experience. I planned on following how Aaron McGruder used his African American Studies degree to bring life to his comic strips and Boondocks. I chose SCAD because of its proximity to Spelman and for the enriching opportunities they have in the animation industry. Anything they do not have on-campus can be done online allowing students to still focus on the big things within their major. With all the opportunities SCAD has I'm hopeful to land an internship at an animation studio or to have a foot in the door for the job I want. If anything I can leave SCAD with the ability to work as a freelancer in illustration and animation. My ultimate professional goal is to work on my animated series as a director. My series will focus on showcasing the lives of minorities but still have a major emphasis on black culture. Until then the plan would be to work as a background painter and build up skills to be hired as a storyboard artist. As I spend the day time working at the studio job a night I would work on developing my series so that it is easier to pitch to higher-ups. It's rare but not impossible to land an internship at a major studio through art school. At the end of the internship depending on the type they allow interns to practice pitching a show to a network. It might not get a show right off the bat but it helps with building up the skills necessary to pitch a show until a studio does buy it. One thing I loved about my high school experience is the service opportunities I've had through the National Honors Society and other organizations. My favorite is cleaning up the outside and inside of the school with gloves and a trash bag. I've also helped with buying supplies for those who need them and creating care packages. I plan on doing similar activities like this at college through any programs available. I've also helped with organizing volunteer opportunities like Adopt and Street and care packages for Metro Relief in the Colony area of Texas. I love service opportunities like these because they are tangible and you never know who might need the service that is put out. I am currently thankful for my school doing care packages so often because I became one of those beneficiaries by the end of my senior year. The leadership and service skills I've learned throughout my time in high school have prepared me for the hardships I will encounter in college. Starting my time at an HBCU especially an all-girls school will help alleviate any problems I run into while also enriching my life as a black artist. Spelman will not only help me become an empowered black woman but also makes the transition of reaching my goal of becoming an animation director effortless.

When taking full care of my mental health I will limit my time on social media or go all the way off social media. I remember during the Black Lives Matter Movement of 2020 that I had to take multiple breaks if I wanted to succeed in school and keep a level head during that stressful time. While for most social media can be your break from life for me during a time like that it was necessary to cut my time down so I could decompress and process information. I found that my break from social media had such a good impact on mental health that I did not rush to go back to it for doom scrolling again. A majority of the time the fastest and easiest way to decompress is to fall back into my hobbies which are art and video games. When I have spare time In class I will doodle in a notebook to take off some of the daily stress of school. I use art to manage my stress and mental health because I don't have to actively think of it as a mental health thing. I'll spend hours at a time making art about whatever just to get emotions and feelings out. My mental health also gets worse if I seclude myself in my room so to counteract that I will hang out with friends from sun up to sun down to destress. I would also hang out with my Dad and play video games with him to channel my frustrations into beating a level. I may even read a book aloud to others in my household. Doing activities outside with people helps me with connections and learning new things about my personality that make me happy.

If given the opportunity again to influence the black lives matter movement I would do it again through my art. In 2020 I saw people would make videos filled with ads in them to raise money for the group and any non-profits related to it. Those videos would include art, speeches, comedy, and other forms of entertainment within them. These videos were monetized for a whole month and at the end of the month, the proceeds went to charity. At that point, I began to make art in the celebration of black people while also discussing black issues like Black Lives Matter. When creating my video I wrote my speech about black lives matter informing me what the term means and even some concerns of my own I had around the events. I felt guilty due to staying at home due to coronavirus and desperately wanted to be in the streets with the protesters. It took a lot of me to create content around a topic that had hit so close to home and it took a while to get through making the videos without wanting to choke up and cry. The whole time I had to keep in mind that the specific video that I was making was to be used in those mega-videos for charity as a free artwork. That year I made my video for anyone to download and add to theirs to increase their runtime. I also used my small platform to inform people of racist experiences I've gone through during my time in high school and at other predominately white schools. I then used my artwork to draw a key moment of pictures from the protests and display my feelings of sadness and anger with needing to say black lives matter. The artwork was of a girl crying with smoke flames around her and wearing a mask saying " Black Lives Matter" and underneath her was a person wearing a bandana mask surrounded by smoke and flames lifting his hand in the black power fist. When viewing it the message was powerful no matter which way you looked at the artwork. So, if I were to do it again I would make monetized videos of my own and donate all the proceeds to charity while also still spreading news and ways to help throughout my other social media platforms. I would also make it a series of artwork to sell through my online shop and take whatever money earned and give that to charity as well. Whenever someone would purchase a piece they would be sent a link that sends them to an information document with ways to help and how to inform others. Therefore, If I were to influence any social issue I would do it through my art.