![user profile avatar](https://static.bold.org/profilePictures/1614292638641.webp)
Hobbies and interests
Drawing And Illustration
Writing
Music
Psychology
Sewing
Gardening
History
Singing
Graphic Design
Studying
Botany
Costume Design
Reading
Psychology
Religion
Academic
Adventure
Art
I read books daily
Rachel McKelvey
2,265
Bold Points1x
Finalist![user profile avatar](https://static.bold.org/profilePictures/1614292638641.webp)
Rachel McKelvey
2,265
Bold Points1x
FinalistBio
My name is Rachel Marije McKelvey, I'm 18 and my goal in life is to create stories that connect with and inspire the masses. I've been through many different hardships in life, including a car accident I nearly lost my life in during my senior year. Nothing has been easy, but I am determined to turn my pain into something beautiful for the world to see!
Education
Pierson Middle/High School
High SchoolMiscellaneous
Desired degree level:
Bachelor's degree program
Majors of interest:
- Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics and Special Effects
- Arts, Entertainment,and Media Management, General
- Medical Illustration and Informatics
Career
Dream career field:
Animation
Dream career goals:
Showrunner and creator
barista, kitchen staff and cashier
Sagtown Coffee2018 – 20191 yearcashier
Grindstone Coffee and Donuts2020 – 20211 year
Arts
Pierson High School
PrintmakingPierson High School art exhibition, Parrish Art Museum student exhibition, Guild Hall student exhibition2018 – 2019BOCES
Graphic ArtParrish Art museum student exhibition , SkillsUSA pin design contest, Longhouse Student Exhbition2019 – 2020Pierson High School
IllustrationParrish Art Museum student exhibition, Pierson High School student Exhibition, Guild Hall student art exhibition2016 – PresentPierson High School
ActingYou can't take it with you, Fame, The Little mermaid, The Drowsy Chaperone2017 – 2020School of Visual Arts Precollege, NYC
AnimationPre-college Animation Showcase2019 – 2019
Public services
Volunteering
Independent — student volunteer2016 – Present
Future Interests
Advocacy
Volunteering
Entrepreneurship
SkipSchool Scholarship
My favorite artist is actually a medical illustrator by the name of Michele Graham. I love the fact that she uses her art as a form of education and as a way of supporting and advancing the medical field. Her art itself is soft yet still very realistic and anatomically accurate, and the style is just beautiful to me. I plan to be an animator and medical illustrator just like her one day.
Pride Palace LGBTQ+ Scholarship
instagram: @raquelmckayart
I'm proud to be a bisexual woman in the community as well as an ally for others in the community. I understand what it's like to be discriminated against, and the community is one of the few places where I'm supported and loved, and I can give this love back and uplift my peers. I'm proud to be myself, to love who I love, and to know my love has no limits.
Jaki Nelson LGBTQ+ Music Education Scholarship
Music has given me life when I feel I've lost it. In fact, when I almost lost my life in a car accident, the only thing that kept me going was listening to music. Being unable to move a lot at the time and trying to recover, music gave me a way to process my feelings and trauma, as well as a way to move without actually moving.
I feel like in a way I owe it to music, to the musicians that inspire me, and the people around me to make some music of my own - to tell stories in a different light. One of my biggest dreams is to eventually start a band inspired by different eras in history. I feel it's effective because not only do people get to explore the very specific problems of the time period people faced but also realize that we still deal with many of the same issues today. We're all the same humans, just hundreds of years apart.
To me, music has helped me with my identity as a bisexual woman and as someone who is still trying to process trauma, grief, and all other aspects of life that I'm still learning, and I hope someday I will be able to give back similarly.
Mirajur Rahman Self Expression Scholarship
Nervo "Revolution" Scholarship
My biggest artistic ambition is to tell stories that will shake people to the core. There are a few ways I'd love to go about this, but especially after nearly losing my life in a car accident, I realize I want to do it through artistic visuals and animation.
Animation and cartoons always inspired me growing up. As a child on the autism spectrum, I had trouble understanding and learning social norms, which cartoons helped me understand through stories and fables. But I was also attracted to how much emotion could be conveyed in such simple characters with each frame. Even the characters themselves had so much to say with something as basic as the shape of their eyes or the way they were designed. I was blown away by this art form and all the work that went into storyboarding, designing, and even writing the characters too.
When I finally got the chance to learn how to animate a year ago at the School of Visual Arts' pre-college program, I really felt I had found my nice in the world. For once I was surrounded by like-minded people and learning about the same thing that made me feel comfortable as a child. Although the actual process of animating itself is incredibly tedious, time-consuming, and very hard, seeing your character come to life after hours of drawing in every frame is a feeling like no other, a true feeling of accomplishment.
So with all my life experiences, from dealing with being on the spectrum and the difficulties it came with, to dealing with trauma in my senior year from a nearly fatal car accident, and much more, I want to reach out to people dealing with trauma as well. I want to remind them that not only are they not alone, but that the pain does not last forever, that there are ways to keep holding on and tough through the moment.