Growing up in a traditional Catholic family household, you would think we knew all LIFE's moral codes. In truth, we didn’t even know what the basics of abortion were until years later. As I grew older into adulthood, my experiences with the pro-life foundation became even more clear: our mortality is under attack by the underground-driven forces that disguise themselves as “healthcare.” As someone who has a learning disability and was diagnosed with autism at the age of 5, it is alarming to see how little value parents see their unborn child with a disability as an “insult” rather than a gift. 60% of children with Down syndrome end up being aborted without even having a chance to thrive right beside us. I grew up with these kids in my early years of school, I cannot imagine these children to just one day disappear from the face of the Earth. Them being a “target” to being terminated in our society is just the same as any eugenics practice in the past. Any disability noticed OR unnoticed should not label us as a burden or a byproduct. The same can be said for the elderly and the sick, who feel that they have no other choice but to end their life because of their sufferings. EVERY PERSON on this Earth has, is, and will suffer. There is no way out of it and that is a part of our existence. It is also disheartening to see that some countries even provide assisted suicide to those with mental illnesses, basically telling them that they are better off dead if they felt like they were. This just turns a blind eye to those that have suffered major depression and illness and are living life to the fullest despite their given circumstances. Over the recent years, I’ve participated in the ‘40 Days for Life’ campaign from my parish, I help raise awareness of our generation being aborted. Me and my group has done peaceful prayers outside of the abortion center and provided fliers for those women who are struggling with their pregnancy, many of which have been successful! Despite the few offenses and shouts from cars passing by, it has helped me learn to be persevere and hopeful. I know we are in the Lord’s care especially where prayer can have such an impact on one broken individual. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade last June, the impact it made to save 10s of thousands of babies is just the beginning. I know our work is not yet done and that there is so much yet to do, especially in my home state of Florida. I will not watch to see my state becoming a haven for those who want to destroy life, but to be a sanctuary of hope in our community to help women in need, especially the unborn. Disability or not, we are all in likeness in the face of God, no one should ever be left out. I find it ironic that those in power want to care for the equality of humanity, yet we can't do the same for those who haven’t even taken their first breath. Abortion is the only medical procedure created to end a person’s life instead of saving it.

My name is Isabella Rodriguez and I'm currently attending Florida Atlantic University as a junior. My creative passion for art has been with me since I was a kindergartner, often taking me to a different realm outside of the boring reality. Ever since I was diagnosed with autism at the age of five, I think it's safe to say that I've always been a highly visual person and that I learn things in certain ways throughout my life. But not everything for me is "rainbows and sunshine," I'll admit that I do have daily struggles with anxiety disorders and depression, and usually the only way to escape that desolation is through my sketchbook and drawing tablet. For the most part, it has been a great coping mechanism to use and keeps my sight on my goals in life. I'm always looking for new opportunities within my field of work, whether it's internships or side jobs in graphic design, learning to be flexible is a very important step to learn in this field of work. Despite my challenges and my disability, I keep moving forward and I am not planning on slowing down anytime soon because of it. Over the years, my technique grew and changed, and I received art awards. At The Gallery in the Eissay Palm Beach State College campus, I got 1st place in Design Fundamentals back in 2021. My other chosen works were also shown at an art gallery at the Lake Worth campus around that same time, taken from a visual design lab I took back then. Fast forward to 2023 and The Norton Museum of West Palm Beach where they exhibited a piece I did for the Nat King Cole Music Foundation Project. It featured old guitars that Yamaha donated to the organization, and in turn, we students were to create something out of those guitars. It was an overall exciting and great learning experience for me to endure in the future. Out of all the crafting, painting, threading, sculpturing, modeling, and designing I've done through the years, I always find myself enjoying illustration the most in my free time. Especially digital artwork, which I've done for a few years now. The more I play around with it, the better I've been getting overtime through time and patience. I also started doing commissions on my social media and just tried to promote my art in a larger community. Building up a portfolio is also an important step for me, I consider it a milestone and a way of showing companies that I mean business. I still enjoy the traditional method of drawing since I've been doing it for most of my life. A quick sketch even helps as a rough draft so that I can convert it into digital art, and it's my way of doing a blueprint. I will have to admit, the last few years have been super rough for me to stay in school. I've tried to be a full-time student and work at the same time but to no prevail. I am not qualified for any financial assistance, I've tried every possible way to see if there was anything. Because of this, I feel like there are limited resources for young, aspiring adults with disabilities just like me. It's very frustrating to deal with and I feel like I'm left out on many other opportunities that are in store for me. This scholarship will be very beneficial to start the semester with and will help get me to become more of a positive influence in the disability community with my art.

The LEAST, and maybe the best thing I can do is to be myself and to be there for my family.

Growing up with VHS was a HUGE factor in my visual skill as an amateur artist. Getting to be part of that timeline was exceptional for me because I get to insert that same life experience into my work. As I got older, my style changed and so did my general outlook on the genre of my art. This one in particular shows just that, a mockup music poster that I recently did in my Illustration class from the past spring semester. Being inspired by the aesthetics and the 80s culture, and the vintage poster look from horror films inspired by Steven King's novels, I put my twist on the dystopian theme. For that certain theme to work, you need to have an extreme, yet simple, atmosphere. Well-known examples can be the movie posters 'A Nightmare of Elm Street,' 'Halloween,' and 'The Evil Dead.' Along with the Netflix hit series, 'Stranger Things' and 'Bladerunner,' which was heavily inspired to do this project. As a kid, I strongly disliked watching similar shows or films like these given examples. But I think that sort of "fear" would become a Pandora's Box for my artwork. I now do many stories and works behind the horror genre, and I find it fascinating to play along with it. Since this was a music poster project, I had to find the right song track to fit into the frame. I always enjoyed listening to lesser-known artists and had a love for industrial goth punk. Possibly, because I've grown accustomed to the well-known sub-goth groups such as The Cure and Skinny Puppy. So the song I ended up featuring was 'Live to Tell' by Ego Likeness, which is a remake of the original hit by Madonna. It was a perfect fit for it being a classic 80s song and for the theme of my art poster. Since this poster objectively revolves around the single woman in the center, it is because her story is being told WITHIN this picture. The theme I was going for was for her to stand out of the limelight, in contrast to the other dancers that only appear as silhouettes. Her stare gazes upon the viewer as if she is like a deer in headlights, her expression indicates that she is not looking for the attention that is shown here. Again, like much of those faces portrayed in well-known horror/sci-fi movie posters, injecting that same concerned or exaggerated look. As I said from the beginning, the odd fascination with the VHS realm and its characteristics is what brought this inspiration to life. And I can tell that this trend also attracts others within my same generation. Most likely because we want to relive that moment in that era, and mash it in with today's standards of pop culture and technology. It feels phenomenal to have that sort of freedom, that you can create anything from your imagination, and to incorporate that same inspiration to others within your flock!