My name is Kelsie White and I am a sophomore tv/film major from Atlanta, Georgia currently attending Howard University. Coming in freshman year, I was worrisome about what I wanted to pursue. I was a film major, but at some point I had realized that I wasn’t as passionate about it as I thought I once was. The spark I once had died out once I was exposed to the idea of more possibilities as I settled in on campus. As a result of this, it led me to pursue other options around my campus allowing me to explore other career options through events and service. I got a taste of public relations volunteering to help run an “HBCU Honors night,” event hosted on campus. I attended various open houses for other majors such as nursing to gain new perspectives, and I volunteered for community service development projects to make a difference. It wasn’t until I attended a fashion show during Homecoming week and applied to be a part of a modeling organization on campus having to create my first fashion portfolio, did I realize that fashion was what I felt drawn to. My creative side as well as my analytical side had been drawn together in order to create something new and it was something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. I plan to use my interest in pursuing fashion marketing to create opportunities to explore various career paths in the fashion industry for minorities. Growing up, anything in the creative industry for me was treated as a hobby rather than a career option which is a similar story for many minority children. I want to create options for them to actually see themselves in this career field and bring in their perspectives to the world of fashion because it is lacking in diversity. More specifically, to pull from my background in education, I want to create hands-on courses for kids to participate in to expose them to different things. I believe this will effectively serve the community and open up many doors for others. Creating connections is so important as well as difficult to do in such a specialized industry and I want to make that process easier for my community. By giving back to my community, the industry will continue to grow and allow people from different backgrounds who have different perspectives to tell their story in a way they see fit. Receiving the Wendy Alders Cartland Visual Arts scholarship will help me achieve my goals by supporting me financially and alleviating stress involved with the cost of attendance for Howard University. Every bit of inflow helps and by receiving this scholarship I can continue pursuing excellence and focus solely on my academics rather than financials and academics. My experience mentoring students as a Magnet Ambassador has allowed me to guide and support young people through transitional periods of their life, while my role as a Junior RA highlights my ability to plan engaging activities within a community. Additionally, my skills and creativity in video production and pr planning connects me with diverse audiences and many different perspectives. This directly ties to my career pathway of fashion marketing as I am actively working towards building a name for myself. I am also heavily involved with community-focused, youth based events whether that be through teaching or mentorship. Most importantly, I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone to explore opportunities and create connections for myself while staying committed to my values of service and mentorship.

On a surface level, I want to graduate from Howard University with a bachelor's degree in economics and work in the fashion marketing industry. That however, comes from the deeper level of re-discovering who I am and learning to embrace my authentic self. One thing I learned very quickly while being a Howard is that each person has their own unique style and there's a certain way they present themselves. Some people have loud boisterous confidence while others have a quiet easy going type. I came into Howard trying to fit into a box of what I thought others would respond best to. While I haven’t figured out exactly who I am yet, I was able to discover who I wasn’t. I’m now embracing the process of stepping out of my comfort zone, trying new things, and growing into the most authentic version of myself to have a deeper understanding of who Kelsie is. This realization was no easy feat and it took me a while to discover this. Coming in freshman year, I was worrisome about what I wanted to pursue. I was a film major, but at some point I had realized that I wasn’t as passionate about it as I thought I once was. The spark I once had died out once I was exposed to the idea of more possibilities as I settled in on campus. As a result of this, it led me to pursue other options around my campus allowing me to explore other career options through events and service. I got a taste of public relations volunteering to help run an “HBCU Honors night,” event hosted on campus. I attended various open houses for other majors such as nursing to gain new perspectives, and I volunteered for community service development projects to make a difference. It wasn’t until I attended a fashion show during Homecoming week and applied to be a part of a modeling organization on campus having to create my first fashion portfolio, did I realize that fashion was what I felt drawn to. My creative side as well as my analytical side had been drawn together in order to create something new and it was something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. I plan to use my interest in pursuing fashion marketing to create opportunities to explore various career paths in the fashion industry for minorities. Growing up, anything in the creative industry for me was treated as a hobby rather than a career option which is a similar story for many minority children. I want to create options for them to actually see themselves in this career field and bring in their perspectives to the world of fashion because it is lacking in diversity. More specifically, to pull from my background in education, I want to create hands-on courses for kids to participate in to expose them to different things. I believe this will effectively serve the community and open up many doors for others. Receiving this scholarship will help me achieve my goals by supporting me financially and alleviating stress involved with the cost of attendance for Howard University. I am incredibly persistent and adaptable which guarantees that I can contribute intentionally to the development and the goals of the Lucent scholarship. But most importantly, I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone to explore opportunities and create connections for myself while staying committed to my values of service and mentorship.

College has always been the next step for me following my high school education. Not because I’ve always known what I wanted to pursue, but because my family has been exposed to my older sister's journey to college. With that exposure and being equipped with more information, they were much more informed and wanted that option for me. Before my sister, my parents themselves were not really exposed to the possibilities of college and what that life could offer. For me, college became a normal right of passage, however my peers were not in the same boat of having a knowledge and understanding of the college process. As a result, my mother and I discussed how we could provide support to others who needed help and out of that came Sarah's daughter. The pillar that resonates the most with me is mentorship because I was able to mentor others through Sarah's Daughters. Sarah's daughter is a life group that helps high school students map out their pathway to college while building leadership skills to grow in a community. We first began with a group of five girls where three of them were juniors and another girl and I were the seniors. As a mentor, my role was to lead the discussions and share my own personal journey through the process. I was also responsible for capturing each person's interest, to collectively discuss potential career options. Capturing each individual interest was time well spent because it would identify areas of interest that would create a foundation for the journey to college planning. Once we identified a career option, each week we would focus on different aspects of the process which included study sessions for standardized tests, writing college essays, current school check in’s, and understanding the process for applying to schools. We also discussed the rising cost of tuition and focused on how to apply for scholarships to reduce or eliminate loans.This experience had a huge impact on me because in my own learning journey, I was tasked to lead many of the discussions, share my experiences and learn how to mentor others to bring out the gifts and talents they had to offer. I learned the value of serving others by walking them through my journey of applying to college as they learned how to do the same. The best part is that they saw a pathway for themselves and are now exposed to the possibilities of options to make their dreams a reality. When enough people come together, each individual is able to pour into the lives of others based on their own lessons learned. Sarah’s Daughter is a stronger foundation that is being built where there is a synergy happening through the process of community. Like Sarah's Daughters, I believe college will provide me with the opportunity to mentor other young students and help them come into their own. I want to become a pillar in my community creating opportunities for others just like those before me had done for me. College is a way that I can learn to grow up and come into my own as a future leader and mentor. The Hines Scholarship would allow me to continue this journey by funding my college degree so that I can focus on my studies and serving others.

For 10 years I’ve eaten my oatmeal crunchy. It all started when I was in the 3rd grade and my dad made me oatmeal in the morning before school started. I got downstairs, and I saw him standing over the oatmeal on the counter with a distressed look on his face. He turned and saw me and apologized because the oatmeal was undercooked and he was rushing trying to get ready for work. He went to remake it when I said “it’s ok, I like my oatmeal crunchy.” He looked at me with a sort of disbelief on his face and asked if I was sure. I told him yes and from then on he always made crunchy oatmeal. Crunchy oatmeal became a thing I had gotten used to, even beginning to make it for myself at some point. Looking back on that experience, what I remember most is how my dad felt when he thought he messed up my breakfast. My initial thoughts were that I didn’t want him to remake it; however, I didn’t realize I would eventually come to like the outcome. It also happens to be the same way I feel about film. Over the years, I’ve watched a lot of films but the ones that stuck with me were shows which had unexpected endings or plot lines. In the same way crunchy oatmeal was a surprise to me at 7 and now at 17, that experience has taught me how to adapt to different situations and speak up when I want to get my point across. It's ironic because film is the last thing others would have expected me to pursue. It was my “unexpected” story because compared to others, my voice was not the loudest in the room. In that same room, I am processing everything going on around me and in connecting with others, I pay attention to details. From school events to hanging out with my friends, I am constantly connecting, creating stories, and adapting to situations that are unexpected. I’ve realized that I like to try new things in other areas that help me to create new experiences that tell stories I use as inspiration for my films. Being observant is a quality I use to enhance the details of those stories and a core part of who I am as a person. While my full story is yet to be written, my willingness to adapt to new things highlights other areas of my life that feed into how I see the world and in turn, my story is consistently being influenced by others and how I develop as a person. While I admire others who are (slightly) louder, have inside jokes with teachers, and can be recognized openly, I am comfortable with my own voice and what I have to offer as a filmmaker. By using my voice to express myself through storytelling, I've learned to appreciate how I see the world and what I want to share with others.

For 10 years I’ve eaten my oatmeal crunchy. It all started when I was in the 3rd grade and my dad made me oatmeal in the morning before school started. I got downstairs, and I saw him standing over the oatmeal on the counter with a distressed look on his face. He turned and saw me and began apologizing because the oatmeal was undercooked and he was already rushing trying to get ready for work. He went to remake it when I said “it’s ok, I like my oatmeal crunchy.” He looked at me with a sort of disbelief on his face and asked if I was sure. I told him yes and from then on he always made crunchy oatmeal. Crunchy oatmeal became a thing I had gotten used to, even beginning to make it for myself at some point. Looking back on that experience, what I remember most is how my dad felt when he thought he messed up my breakfast. My initial thoughts were that I didn’t want him to remake it; however, I didn’t realize I would eventually come to like the outcome. It also happens to be the same way I feel about film. Over the years, I’ve watched a lot of films but the ones that stuck with me were shows which had unexpected endings or plot lines. In the same way crunchy oatmeal was a surprise to me at 7 and now at 17, that experience has taught me how to adapt to different situations and speak up when I want to get my point across. It's ironic because film is the last thing others would have expected me to pursue. It was my “unexpected” story because compared to others, my voice was not the loudest in the room. In that same room, I am processing everything going on around me and in connecting with others, I pay attention to details. From school events to hanging out with my friends, I am constantly connecting, creating stories, and adapting to situations that are unexpected. I’ve realized that I like to try new things in other areas that help me to create new experiences that tell stories I use as inspiration for my films. Being observant is a quality I use to enhance the details of those stories and a core part of who I am as a person. While my full story is yet to be written, my willingness to adapt to new things highlights other areas of my life that feed into how I see the world and in turn, my story is consistently being influenced by others and how I develop as a person. While I admire others who are (slightly) louder, have inside jokes with teachers, and can be recognized openly, I am comfortable with my own voice and what I have to offer as a filmmaker. By using my voice to express myself through storytelling, I have learned to appreciate how I see the world and what I want to share with others.

In 8th grade, I saw a TV show about a kid who played volleyball. He had no prior experience, yet still managed to make his school team and play well. A month later I had signed up for my first volleyball session. A session after I had joined, another girl my age had come in and immediately moved up to the advanced level. I was frustrated and aimed to get better. 5 Sundays after I began lessons, COVID hit and I was unable to continue. I practiced at home in hopes of making my school team. At tryouts, I was put in the lowest group and it felt more like a play area than a tryout session. It was also my first time crying about a sport because I didn't make the team. I remember asking the coach “How can I improve for next year,” and he told me to get more playing experience. One year later, I was back for sophomore-year tryouts. But instead of being put in the lowest group, I was put in the middle group. It felt good to move up but I could not still be considered a candidate for being on the team. This time instead of crying in my bed, I laid down and cried on the floor. 3 months later I made the regional team playing club volleyball outside of my school. I thought I had finally put my foot in the door and would be able to play for my school when tryouts opened up in the fall. When the fall came, I tried out again for my school volleyball team and the feedback was positive. I even had some of the coaches speak directly to me about my progress from past attempts. On the last day of tryouts, the varsity coach called me over and said “Kelsie, I remember you from 3 years ago when you first tried out and you've improved a lot, I just wish you played club sooner because you definitely would have made the team 3 years ago.” I felt confident I had made the team, but when the results came back I didn't see my name. This time, it was in my parent's arms who held me as I cried. If I could do it all over again knowing everything I know now, I’d still do it. Through the tears and the heartbreak, I learned disappointment and unfairness. But I also learned not to let that disappointment determine my self-worth and to keep trying no matter the outcome. Throughout this experience, the one song that played on repeat when I thought about volleyball was "New Romantics," by Taylor Swift. Whenever I think of the song I imagine myself succeeding and excelling in my sport. Even now, I think of volleyball when I hear the song and that reminds me to keep pushing. It reminds me that even when I was at my lowest I am still here and I continue to fight.

1. I'm an amazing person, and I want to go to school for free to save my own personal money so I can spend it on food and going out to eat. 2. My goal is to become rich and famous by marrying a rich NBA star and living life debt-free. 3. I once couldn't decide if I wanted Zaxbys or Chipoltle so I got both just to eliminate that issue.