As a fellow Missouri girl and self-proclaimed Midwest Princess, Chappell Roan means the world to me. I first heard of her from a friend who went to her concert here in Kansas City, and I was a fan from the first beat. I've always been a fan of upbeat pop music, but Chappell's music felt different, it felt like I was listening to my own story. I've known that I want to be an artist since my freshman year when my school counselor asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I'd been a fan of cartoons far past the age it was considered appropriate, so I decided that I wanted to be an animator. I was so excited to get out of that small-town high school that I poured all my energy into researching the BEST animation programs in the country. Always the gifted kid, I set my sights on Calarts. Calarts is often seen as the Harvard of art schools. A degree from their animation program almost guarantees you a leading role on a TV show. For nearly a year I rejected the thought of any other school. I was going to California. With age came wisdom and my mom convinced me to tour a few other schools, including the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. I realized that the cost and rigor of Calarts might not have been the best fit for me. I wanted more freedom with my art, not to be forced into the mold of an ideal industry employee. I wanted my art to feel like my own, and that wasn't going to happen in California. In the end, I didn't even apply to Calarts, opting for a school in the Midwest where I felt like I could grow my own voice as an artist. I think this is why Chappell's songs "Pink Pony Club" and "California" speak to me so much. I've always wanted more than what Missouri has to offer, but it took me a while to really understand what that meant. As I start attending the Minneapolis College of Art and Design this fall, I might still find myself missing the seasons in Missouri, but Chappell's music will always be there as a little piece of home. Chappell Roan is the representation that the Queer community in Missouri has been searching for for so long. I've seen how her music has helped so many queer people in our often isolated community, and I am proud to call myself a fan. From her activism to her general campiness and authenticity, Chappell truly is a force to be reckoned with and I hope to one day be able to use my art to impact the world even half as much as she has.

I have always had a deep appreciation for the arts, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I truly discovered how important they are to the human experience. As I am preparing to start my journey as a professional artist, I look back on all the ways art has helped me through the years. Cartoons became an escape during some of the hardest times in my life, and I was always the kid to draw someone a get well card when they were feeling down. Art is healing, and I am glad to be able to share that with the world. For the last year, I have worked at a local paint-your-own-pottery store. Going into it, it seemed like a fun, easy high school job for an artsy kid to make a little extra money, but I quickly realized how important this little store is to our community. We welcome people from all walks of life, single mothers trying to relax on their one day off, elderly customers seeking community, and even people who never thought of themselves as creative. I've seen people walk into the store skeptical and unsure of themselves and leave satisfied and proud of what they make. In a world where third spaces are dwindling, I see how important our little shop has become. I find so much joy in watching customers relax, have a complimentary cup of coffee, and connect with the people they love. I have come to take pride in this little part-time job, as it is the accumulation of everything I want to do with my own art. I have wanted to be a storyteller for years now. I've always dreamed of writing cartoons and comics that allow people to escape, even for just a little while, and I feel that this place is just as important as any story or show I could write. In a way, the past year has only solidified what I want to do in my artistic career. I've always wanted to use my art to help people, and this job has shown me that there are so many ways to do just that. As I prepare to move off to college, I will keep these lessons in mind as I forge my own path towards making the world a better and brighter place.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the art that have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I want to make art that means something, but I need a little bit of help. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I plan on majoring in animation and minoring in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, and I hope this scholarship can help me do just that.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I plan on majoring in animation and minoring in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, and I hope this scholarship can help me do just that.

Much to my surprise, my favorite piece I've made is an acrylic self-portrait. This piece came from an art class assignment where our teacher gave us ninety minutes to paint a self-portrait. The only catch: we couldn't use a paintbrush. She gave us palette knives, old gift cards, and even newspaper to collage with, but no paintbrushes. I never considered myself much of a painter, I want to go into animation, so I was hesitant about the assignment and I just kind of started messing around. To start, I just slapped some color over the newspaper background. I mixed colors straight on the canvas, smearing them together and keeping the odd textures, even using my fingers at one point to get my desired look. By the end of the ninety minutes I was really happy with what I'd made, but it wasn't quite done yet. I came back the next day excited about my work, and after adding a few finishing touches, I was done. I like this piece because I never really expected to like it. Because I had such low hopes for it I was able to play around with it, and I ended up with something I was really proud of. The exercise taught me a lot about my artistic process and I hope to use what I learned to make even more amazing art next year in art school.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down, an escape to a different world, even if for just a short 22 minutes. I've looked up to a lot of artists throughout my life, Raina Telgemeier, Alex Hirsch, and Rebecca Sugar to name a few, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. I think I was drawn to all of their stories because they were rooted in childhood wonder. I grew up without many kids my age in my neighborhood, so I always felt like kind of a loner. Even when I got older I was more likely to read on my own than invite friends over to play after school. Watching these shows and reading these books was like experiencing the childhood I never had, and they shaped my life in more ways than I can count. As I got older, I realized that I wanted to do the same for other kids struggling to fit in. I'd thought about a lot of careers throughout my life: teacher, theme park engineer, and even fashion designer, but none of them felt like me. Art is such a diverse career field, and that's why I'm so drawn to it. I could be a writer, an animator, or anything in between, I just want to tell stories that help future weirdoes as much as my role models helped me. I will be attending the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in the fall to study animation and creative writing, and I can't wait to see my stories come to life.

My name is Chloe Borgmeyer, and I have been an artist for as long as I can remember. Since I was a child, art has played a big part in my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins museum with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art and creativity have defined so much of my life. As I've gotten older, art has become a comfort for me when I am down, a way to escape, even just for a short twenty-two minutes. I've considered a lot of careers growing up: teacher, fashion designer, author, and even theme park engineer, but it wasn't until the pandemic that I discovered my love of animation. Through the endless hours stuck in the house watching Infinity Train and Gravity Falls, it came to me: Animation was the perfect combination of everything I wanted to do. I could write, draw, and design all I wanted while making an impact on people's lives. It felt like the perfect match. I started looking into different schools and their animation programs, and I was overwhelmed. Some schools had programs that focused solely on animation, but that felt too restrictive. I love art because of its interdisciplinary nature. I've seen how my experience on my school's robotics team helped me to understand the construction of a garment and how to alter it. I've seen how my classmate who swore she was only a painter fell in love with printmaking and made it a large part of her AP Sustained investigation. I've watched how my mom's passion for art history has helped her connect with students and make her a better math teacher. I love how different experiences not only change the way one perceives art, but how they make it as well, and that played a big part in my own creative process. As I have thought about what I want out of my career, I have determined that I don't want to be put in a box. I don't want to be stuck with one thing my entire life. I don't just want to be an animator or a character designer or a writer, I want to be a storyteller. That title may take many shapes, but I feel that it encompasses what I want to do with my life. In the fall I will be attending The Minneapolis College of Art and Design where I will spend a year exploring all sorts of different mediums before declaring my major. My plan for art school is to soak up as much information and as many different mediums as I can. Whether I end up making comics, TV, Movies, or just commercials, I want to do it my way. I've dreamt up all sorts of projects whether they be cartoons, comics, or even my own art store, but I'm sure I'll dream up even more in the next four years. No matter what I do, I want my art to contain multitudes, just like the person who made it, and I can't wait to see where my art journey takes me next.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, and I hope to use this scholarship to help with that.

If my year had a soundtrack, it would have to include two of my favorite songs from 1989 (Taylor's Version): "Wonderland", "Clean" and "New Romantics." For me, this year has been about going back to what made me happy as a child, and the re-release of 1989 played a large part in that. As a child, I often felt like I had to be different from the other girls my age. In class, I would say I didn't like pop music because it was too "girly." Despite almost exclusively playing with Barbies at home, I felt like I had to abandon those interests if I wanted to be seen as "smart" and "mature", things that a gifted kid like me was supposed to be. My music tastes were given a similar treatment. When I was little, my parents primarily listened to rock music. I was raised on a steady stream of U2, The Beatles, and The Police, so I hadn't been exposed to a lot of pop music. Despite the occasional Lady Gaga and P!nk, I was in the dark. That was until one Christmas when my aunt gave me my first CD: 1989 by Taylor Swift. At first, I was hesitant, I'd heard of Taylor Swift and her music before, but I'd never listened to her songs. My parents asked if we wanted to listen to it in the car on the ride home, so I decided to give it a try. I was immediately drawn to the up-tempo beats and strong lyrics. I quickly fell in love with the album. I've probably heard "Welcome to New York" a thousand times, but I eventually got tired of it. That was until I heard she was re-releasing the album as 1989 (Taylor's Version.) My senior year has been full of nostalgic moments, but my drive to school on October 27, 2023, might be the most memorable. As soon as I heard those opening notes to "Welcome to New York," I felt like I was ten years old again. By the end of the day, I had listened to the entire album twice, and I loved the new songs. Hearing "New Romantics" was an experience I'll never forget. I remember loving how it kept the same energy as some of my favorite songs while giving me something new. Needless to say, I had the album on repeat for weeks. "Wonderland" quickly became another favorite to listen to while working on my AP Art portfolio and "Clean" resonated so much with me as I prepared to go off on my own for the first time in my life. 1989 TV truly felt like the perfect album for my senior year. Through the remastering of her old songs to the new ones that I grew to love just as much, Taylor's lyrics brought me so much peace and nostalgia in the stress of my senior year, and I will forever be grateful to her music for taking me back to a simpler time and reminding me why I chose to pursue art: to make art that will help people as much as Taylor has helped me.

I want to make a positive impact on the world through my art. Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, I have seen how art can connect people and create positive changes in people's lives. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. Art can be healing in so many ways, and I personally have benefited from that in so many ways. Through my stories I hope to bring others the same comfort that art brought me during one of the hardest parts of my life. This is why have decided to go to art school. On top of animation I want to learn how to reach people with my art and grow into the best artist I can be. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I hope to use this scholarship to pass the magic of art on to the next generation of creative kids like I was just trying to find their place in the world.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, and I hope to use this scholarship to help with that.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends on the weekend. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and as someone who had always struggled with anxiety, I wasn't in a great place. Watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out, and it helped me to get away from the stress I was feeling at the time. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, The Owl House, and more. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. I could feel cal and understood in these fictional worlds, and I felt myself begin to heal. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I still have a long way to go, but art has really helped me to sort through my feelings and begin to heal. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, and I hope to use this scholarship to help with that.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom, drawing fanart with my best friend, and being a part of my middle and high school band programs, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, and I hope to use this scholarship to help with that.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins Museum with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends on the weekends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. With grades like mine, I was expected to be an engineer, doctor, or lawyer, not an artist. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - studying animation just felt right for me. Since then, my goal has been to make art that inspires people, and the more I learn about art schools, the more excited I get. There are so many different opportunities in the art world if you're just willing to go out there and look for them, and that is another reason I feel so drawn to this path. If I decide animation isn't for me, I can write a graphic novel, sell my art at markets, or even teach the next generation of young artists. Art is a far more versatile career field than people give it credit for, and I am very excited to see where my own experience as a professional artist takes me. In art school, I plan to major in animation and minor in creative writing and creative business. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future, and creative business will help me handle the financial struggles artists sometimes face. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to learn how to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, and I hope I can use this scholarship to help me with that.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, to me, that is what success looks like. Knowing that my art helped just one person would make it all worth it to me. With this scholarship, I would have less financial stress in college, allowing me to focus on making my dreams a reality.

By far my favorite movie of all time, The Mitchells vs. The Machines follows your average dysfunctional family on their cross-country road trip to take their eldest daughter, Katie, to film school. What was supposed to be a week of tourist traps and fast food is brought to a halt when the machine apocalypse comes and they are the only humans left. Putting aside their differences, with only their burnt orange 1993 station wagon and their dog, the family must band together to save humanity from total annihilation. With its heartfelt message, laugh-out-loud comedy, and stunning animation "The Mitchells vs. The Machines" is a captivating film that can be enjoyed by all ages, and I would happily watch it for the rest of my life. The movie is told from the eyes of our main character, Katie Mitchell. She's a loner kid who found community in her love for filmmaking. After being accepted into the California College of Film, she dreams of getting away from her dad who never understood her interests, and finally being among "her people". With the help of her mom, Linda, an elementary school teacher by profession, and her brother, Aaron, who loves anything to do with dinosaurs, Katie and Rick come to a mutual understanding of one another's interests. This family dynamic is one of growth. None of them are perfect, but they all try their best, and when they put aside their differences, it makes one hell of a robot fight scene. At the end of the film, Katie realizes her family was "her people" all along, but she is still allowed to go out and find more people who love and understand her. Katie is your typical Gen-Z, and the humor in the movie reflects that. The film uses what the creators call "Katie Vision" to make the movie seem like it was filmed by her. From goofy sketchbook-like animations and random pauses for commentary, you are able to see deeper into the brilliant and hilarious mind of Katie Mitchell. Add in her family, their dog, the two robots they accidentally reprogrammed to serve them, and a good serving of commentary on society's reliance on technology, and you've got a comedy that will make even the toughest critic laugh. It would be wrong to talk about this movie without bringing up its brilliant animation. The movie utilizes what is known as the "comic book style" a term first coined with the movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse where 2D and 3D animation are combined to create a comic-like effect. This not only makes the characters and environments look stunning, but the team utilized it in a way that made it look like Katie herself was editing and commenting on this movie. Not to mention that the animation team had to create entirely new software to animate the robots in the final battle sequence, a scene one could watch on repeat for hours and still notice a new intricacy every time. I am a total animation nerd, and this film is honestly to blame for my applications to art school this year. With the relatable cast, heartfelt message, great jokes, and stunning animation, I would happily watch "The Mitchell's Vs. The Machines" over and over again.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. Throughout every time in my life, art has been there to comfort and inspire me. Because of this, I will be attending the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for a major in animation and a minor in creative writing. My goal with my art has always been to inspire people, and although I’m excited to take the next steps in my art career, I am going to miss a big part of my High School career: Color Guard. I originally tried out for Color Guard with my friend because she didn’t want to do it alone, but the experience has become so much more than that. Color Guard became a place where I could be unapologetically myself while working with some of the most talented and hardworking people I’ve ever met. Seeing the work and dedication all of the senior team members put into our shows was truly an inspiration, and I wanted to do the same for the new members of our team. Coming into my senior year I made it my mission to make my mark on the color guard team. Although I was not chosen for captain this year, I still held an important role in the team. From the time I started color guard, our coach always noticed the energy I brought to my performances. No matter if I knew the choreography or not, I would do it with a smile on my face, and people appreciated that. Because of this I subconsciously became more aware of the people who were looking to me as an example. High school is hard for everyone, and for a lot of team members, color guard is the only constant in their lives. I wanted the underclassmen to know that no matter what was going on in their life, they could come to guard practice and I would be there, giving it everything I had that day. No matter what, I did my best to be there: ready and willing to help with whatever they needed. I loved being a person they could come to if they needed anything, guard-related or not. Whether they know it or not, they changed me for the better, and I will forever be grateful for that. As the season has come to a close, I am hearing more from the members I will be leaving behind next year. Many of them have told me they will miss me and that I made them want to work harder, and that is how I know that I did my job. These people mean more to me than they will ever know, and I hope they know that they inspired me just as much as I did them. My goal has always been to inspire others through my art, but being able to inspire this team is a different type of success. I used to dream of getting out of High School and never coming back, but now I’m planning trips back home to watch their performances next year. This team has changed me for the better, and I can’t wait to make them proud in college and beyond.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. Throughout every time in my life, art has been there to comfort and inspire me. Because of this, I will be attending the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for a major in animation and a minor in creative writing. My goal with my art has always been to inspire people, and although I’m excited to take the next steps in my art career, I am going to miss a big part of my high school career: Color Guard. I originally tried out for Color Guard with my friend because she didn’t want to do it alone, but the experience has become so much more than that. Color Guard became a place where I could be unapologetically myself while working with some of the most talented and hardworking people I’ve ever met. Seeing the work and dedication all of the senior team members put into our shows was truly an inspiration, and I wanted to do the same for the new members of our team. Coming into my senior year I made it my mission to make my mark on the color guard team. Although I was not chosen for captain this year, I still held an important role in the team. From the time I started color guard, our coach always noticed the energy I brought to my performances. No matter if I knew the choreography or not, I would do it with a smile on my face, and people appreciated that. Because of this I subconsciously became more aware of the people who were looking to me as an example. High school is hard for everyone, and for a lot of team members, color guard is the only constant in their lives. I wanted the underclassmen to know that no matter what was going on in their life, they could come to guard practice and I would be there, giving it everything I had that day. No matter what, I did my best to be there: ready and willing to help with whatever they needed. Although I didn’t realize it at first, this idea started pushing me to work harder for the team. The team was an inspiration to me, and I wanted to be an inspiration for them as well. As the season has come to a close, I am hearing more from the members I will be leaving behind next year. Many of them have told me they will miss me and that I made them want to work harder, and that is how I know that I did my job. My team means more to me than they will ever know, and I hope they know that they inspired me just as much as I did them. My goal has always been to inspire others through my art, but being able to inspire this team is a different type of success. I used to dream of getting out of High School, but now I’m planning trips back home to watch their performances next year. This team has changed me for the better, and I can’t wait to make them proud in college and beyond.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters." The iconic beginning of one of the most influential pieces of literature even in our present day. Jane Austen opens up her novel "Pride and Prejudice" with a line that will be copied, parodied, and analyzed for years to come. In the opening of the classic novel, Austen is able to flesh out the identity of her main character while also giving us as readers a look into the world she lives in, perfectly setting up the rest of the novel. Austen uses the book's opening as a way to solidify her main character and her views on society. Elizabeth Bennet does not subscribe to the ideas that society wants her to, and people often find her moody and impertinent, she is much more than that. She is smart, she has a sense of humor, and she is incredibly loyal to those she holds dear. In the first line, we are able to see her witty humor as it applies to the situation at hand, and it gives the reader a deeper understanding of her character and her position in the coming conflicts. To compliment Elizabeth's character, Austen uses her secondary paragraph to elaborate on the situation at hand while waiting to bring any more characters into the picture. She gives the reader more time alone with Elizabeth and her thoughts so that the reader gets a better understanding of her view of the world. Her point of view as the narrator plays an important part in the story as she learns and grows, so it is important that her introduction gives the readers a strong sense of her relationship with society and its expectations. Austen also uses the introduction to show Elizabeth's tendency to reject the status quo. The second paragraph shows Elizabeth to be almost sympathetic to the new man in town, acknowledging the way others view him before having even exchanged a few words. As a woman in the eighteenth century, she is familiar with the concept of being someone else's property, and although this man has more freedom than she ever will, she understands how society and its patriarchal standards impact everyone in one way or another. She talks about how every family sees him as property to be owned in an attempt to heighten their social standings. They don't consider how he might feel about this, they only want to form an alliance that benefits them and their families. Elizabeth is aware of this and shows sympathy to the man and his situation, even if it is significantly less restricted than her own. At the end of the day, there is a lot to admire about the iconic opening to this classic work of literature. Elizabeth's character was rare in her day, and Austin did a great job of developing her character from the beginning of the novel. From her commentary on societal expectations to her compassion for a man she had never even met, Elizabeth's Independence, resilience, and compassion are able to shine through from the beginning, preparing readers for the journey ahead. There is a reason that Austen's story has been replicated, parodied, and referenced time and time again, and this opening line does a lot to help "Pride and Prejudice" claim its title as one of the greatest works in English literature.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. I will be attending the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, and I hope this scholarship can help me do that.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, and I hope to use this scholarship to help with that.

Since the beginning, Phineas and Ferb have been the kings of crossovers. Disney acquires Marvel? Phineas and Ferb join the Avengers. Disney acquires Star Wars? Dr. Doofenshmirtz becomes a Sith Lord. With the success of the Percy Jackson series and the approaching revival of Phineas and Ferb, I'd say its about time these boys finally attend summer camp. In the episode:"Mythical Madness!!!" Phineas, Ferb, and their friends are swept into a mythological adventure with Percy and his friends. What starts as any summer day is quickly interrupted by a chimera tearing through the streets of Danville. After deciding to follow the monster, they realize that something else is afoot. They run into Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, and learn that very few people can actually see the monsters, and that the Chimera has stolen a powerful weapon to return to their master. Phineas now knows what they're gonna do that day. Meanwhile, Dr. Doofenshmirtz is attending a LOVEMUFFIN convention. After trapping Perry the Platypus is an ancient-Greece theme trap, he shows off his inator that he will use to bring statues to life. Perry notices some strange-looking creatures walking around the convention center, but none of the other scientists seem to notice them. These creatures aren't OWCA agents, but mythological monsters, sent by medusa to destroy the inator as it is the first cure anyone has ever found to her powers. Phineas, Percy, and the gang follow the chimera to the LOVEMUFFIN convention, causing Perry to go into stealth mode. After they defeat the chimera and retrieve the stolen weapon, the gang is about to call it quits, but Grover's satyr senses pick up on the other monsters in the room. Despite the dangers, Annabeth convinces the crew to stay back and investigate. After all, there has to be a reason all of these monsters have gathered in one spot. They discover Doofenshmirtz's inator, and the Demigods are ecstatic that they might finally save all of the poor souls form Medusa's store, including Grover's Uncle Ferdinand. However, as they are about to investigate, the monsters finally recognize their scent. All Hades breaks loose in the Danville convention center. The demigods go into full battle mode, but Phineas and the gang are able to hold their own using their wits and building skills. The battle ends with the self-destruct button on Doof's inator blowing up the convention hall right as the last person evacuates. The demigods are heartbroken that the inator was destroyed, but glad that everyone is safe. They thank the kids for their help and prepare to head back to camp as the blueprints for the inator float to the ground. Suddenly, Phineas and Ferb are engulfed in golden light, with a flaming hammer appearing over Phineas' head and an owl glows above Ferb's. Finally, the mystery has been revealed. Phineas and Ferb are demigods, explaining why they'd never met their respective biological parents. The boys are in shock, but the handle it well. Percy invites them to come back to camp with them, but Phineas and Ferb decide to stay in Danvill. After all, there's only a hundred a four days of summer vacation, they don't want to waste it at summer camp. The episode wraps with demigods takign the blueprints abck to camp. The boys put up an invisible monster wall around their backyard, allowing them to spend the rest of their summer doing whatever they want. They may need to call on their demigod friends eventually, but for now, they're just going to keep building rockets, fighting mummies, and generally having the best day ever.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I wanted to be an artist. I loved blending art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I have always been a storyteller at heart and all sorts of creative mediums have helped me throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world. No matter if it is my writing, drawing, or just my story, I want to inspire people to follow their dreams and stay true to their passions.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I have had a lot of interests throughout my life: drawing, reading, and fashion design, but they all came back to one thing: art. As I got older, I started to realize that art was more than just a hobby to me. Once I started high school, my art teachers pushed us to look deeper into our favorite artists. I found that the creators of my favorite animated shows had also written comics and graphic novels, each as potent and powerful as the shows I loved. I discovered how diverse the art field could be, and I was enthralled. Being able to pick up projects that spoke to you without being stuck at an office all day felt like the dream for me, so I started looking into art schools. I decided that I wanted to look into animation programs, I have always been a storyteller at heart, and I think that is a big part of why cartoons seem to speak to me. Animation is an ever-changing art, and it seems that everyone who touches it leaves their mark in some way or another. I want to make stories that impact the lives of others, just like my favorite artists have done for me, but I don't want to put myself in a box just yet. My favorite thing about art is how interdisciplinary it can be. throughout high school, I have made it my goal to take every art class available from regular old drawing classes to ceramics and printmaking. I want my art to feel authentic, and I am always drawn to a multitude of different things. Why should my art be any different? I would be lying if I said I had everything figured out, but I know that I want to use my art to tell meaningful stories that will transcend generations, and I want to do it my way, no matter what that might look like.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I realized that art is inherently queer, and it just made me love it more. I wouldn't be where I am today without the LGBTQ+ artists who inspired me, and I hope to do the same for future generations. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos, introverts, and queer kids looking for somewhere to fit in.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I realized that art is inherently queer, and it just made me love it more. I wouldn't be where I am today without the LGBTQ+ artists who inspired me, and I hope to do the same for future generations. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I chose creative writing because it will allow me to make better scripts for my animated works and broaden my horizons to other potential projects in the future. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos, introverts, and queer kids looking for somewhere to fit in.

During COVID, my parents decided to keep me and my sister home from school. My aunt was battling cancer and my dad was a potential blood donor for her, but if any of us got COVID, they wouldn't let him help her. Because of this, I completed my freshman year of high school from the comfort of my home. I was happy doing online school. I was able to complete all of my assignments quickly, and I was still able to do some of the sports I loved. I was able to get a lot of my required classes knocked out, but it did get lonely. I was stuck in the house with my sister, father, and our dog, so I had a lot of free time and not a lot to do. Going into my sophomore year, it was like entering an entirely new world. My middle school merged with another one to make up our district's high school, and it was nothing like the small middle school I was used to. Being a newly realized queer kid, I knew my life was going to be different, but I wasn't ready for how much it changed. I had come from a middle school where everybody knew everybody. I had grown up in the city with classmates of all races, religions, and sexualities, but this school was nothing like that. It was located in a small town just outside of Kansas City, but it was a completely different environment. I had been so excited to live my truth amongst my classmates, but I wasn't able to do that. I still had my friends from middle school, but they were the only ones I could be myself around. I felt myself crawl into a shell, something I'd never really done before. During this time I found a lot of comfort in my art. I had already known that I wanted to pursue art as a career, but this gave me a push to make it happen. I wanted to bring the same comfort to kids who didn't quite feel like they fit in and make art that would make the world a more accepting place. Since then I've become a lot more comfortable being myself at this school. I've accepted that there will always be people who don't like me for who I am, but I have a choice: I can let them get to me or I can continue to live my life. I chose the latter, and I will forever be grateful that I did.

Since I was a child, art has been a part of my life. From Saturday morning cartoons with my dad to wandering the Nelson-Atkins with my mom and drawing fanart with my best friend, art has always been my go-to way to connect with my friends and family. As I got older, art became a comfort for me when I was down and a way to celebrate when I was feeling on top of the world. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the artists who have inspired me and I want to be able to pay that favor forward to the next generation of artists. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. I was the only kid my age in my neighborhood and my best friend lived twenty minutes away, so I was a bit of a loner. When I got to school, I was a good student but I didn’t always have that many friends. Even in middle school, I was more likely to stay in and watch a cartoon or read a book than go hang out with friends. I was always good at drawing, but it was often overlooked in favor of my academic skills. My teachers often told me I’d go far in life, but I always felt kind of lost. I had a lot of passions: fashion, writing, art but no one ever told me they could be a career. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started to figure things out. Being locked up in a house with four other people isn’t fun, and watching cartoons was one of the only things my sister and I could do together without wanting to tear each other’s throats out. We watched everything under the sun: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, and The Owl House. These shows helped me to discover my identity as an Asexual Lesbian, something I had been confused about for a while, and find a community of people who understood me. Sometime during that time in quarantine, it clicked: I loved animation. I loved how it blended art and storytelling into something you could get lost in for a while. I started researching the animation industry and I knew that I wanted to work in animation. It was a perfect blend of all of my passions - animation just felt right for me. In art school, I hope to major in animation and minor in creative writing. I have always been a storyteller and these creative mediums have helped me so much throughout my life. I want to make art that does that for the next generation of weirdos and introverts just trying to find their place in the world, and I love how technology has broadened artistic horizens for so many people so that they might do the same one day.

My obsession with books started when I was young. I got my first bookshelf around the age of five; it was just a single square of the cube shelf at the end of our hallway, but it was mine. I didn't have to share any of those books with my sister, they were just for me. Eventually, I outgrew the shelf and built one in my bedroom. That later evolved into my corner unit bookshelf I got as a present a few years ago. Booktok has helped me grow the titles on my current shelf, but there are certainly some popular titles that I want to add to my collection. I like to organize my shelves by author, so I would have to have a Rick Riordan shelf, as well as one for Alice Oseman, Marissa Meyer, and Ali Hazlewood. All of these authors are my go-to when I'm feeling down, so they'll have to be in easy reach for those tougher weeks. Next, I'd have to include my graphic novel collection. I have always been an artist at heart, and graphic novels are a perfect mix of my two hobbies. A perfect shelf would include everything by the likes of Molly Knox-Ostertag and ND Stephenson, as well as the "Dead Endia" series by Hamish Steele. Now, no graphic novel shelf would be complete without the "Lore Olympus" series, as well as some of my other favorite queer graphic novels like "The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich" and "The Adventure Zone." I read pretty much every graphic novel that comes across my Booktok feed, so this shelf would fill up fast. I couldn't make this shelf without my favorite Booktok recommendation of all time: "Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston." The book is a beautiful work that elicits pure queer joy, and I am so glad to have come across it. My favorite thing about Booktok is how it allows authors to share their works directly with the readers, and without it, I would have missed out on what is now one of my favorite books. I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel. Last but certainly not least, I'd need my fantasy shelf. Fantasy books were my first love, and I have read a lot of them. I am a huge fan of TJ Klune's magical novels, so those would have to be included. On top of this, I'd need to include the "Red Queen" and "Harry Potter" series. Both of these series played such a large part in my love of reading, they deserve a place amongst the best. Just writing this is making me want to hit the bookstore, but I don't think my physical TBR could handle that. In the meantime, I can't wait to see what other magical books Booktok has in store for me.

Even after I decided I wanted to pursue a career in animation, my parents encouraged me to challenge myself academically. I didn't really understand why at first. I had always performed well in my classes, and now that I was going into an artistic field, I didn't need to do anymore. I should have been set. But then I had an experience that showed me how wrong I'd been. During my sophomore year of high school, I was accidentally put into an AP Physics class. Everyone else in my class was either a junior or a senior, and I only really knew one other person there. I almost switched out of the class, but something about it made me want to stay. I can easily say that it was one of the hardest classes I've taken in high school, but I learned a lot. I already had an inkling that I wanted to pursue a career in animation, so I looked for ways I could apply it to my future. The class helped me to gain a better understanding of how gravity affects the way things move, and the exact paths something would take in certain scenarios. I didn't fully understand it at the time, but it would end up being very helpful to me. That summer, I attended a Pre-College program at the Kansas City Art Institute. I was a part of their animation track and one of our very first assignments was a bouncing ball. They showed us how the ball slows down at the top of every arc, and that we should add more frames to get that effect. Most of the other students were confused by why that happened, but I knew. I explained to them how the change in the ball's velocity as gravity takes effect causes the ball to slow down and eventually stop before beginning its descent. Most of them were shocked that I would know this. Almost everyone there was an art kid who didn't focus much in their other classes. Some of them asked more questions about this, and I explained that it worked similarly for our pendulum exercise. I realized that this class had allowed me to stand out from the other forty students in the animation class, and I was proud that I had stuck with it the previous year. This helped me realize that animation is so much more than just sequential drawings. It takes math, science, even English and history. This made me love it even more, and it is why I am still fascinated by the medium and everything that can be done with it.

To me, success means helping others. So often people think you have to have fame or money to be successful, but as long as you're doing what you love, you can be successful even without a career. My grandmother, who has been retired for almost ten years now, spends every day helping people. From praying for the sick child a new mom who she'd only just met to helping council members of her church through the loss of loved ones, she is always there to help those going through a hard time. I have helped her along her weekly Meals on Wheels route where she takes meals to community members who are home-bound. She makes genuine conversation with them and makes sure they get a hot meal, and I am always surprised by how she seems to know everyone. I have seen her make a difference in so many people's lives, and I hope I will be able to do the same. She has always taught me that helping people is the most important thing in this world, and I believe that to be true. I doubt I will ever be able to live up to her legacy, but if I am even half as generous as she is when I am older, I will consider myself successful.

As a child, most of my life was spent at my local library. My mom worked part-time at the library and took me and my sister there every chance she got. I remember picking out my weekly stack of books and then carefully selecting one from the bag to read on the car ride home. Books were such a big part of my upbringing that I never understood how my classmates could dislike reading. As I got older, books became a larger part of my life. I didn't have any kids my age in my neighborhood, so they became my primary source of entertainment. I devoured everything I could get my hands on, but it wasn't until I read the Percy Jackson series in the 5th grade that I realized how much books can expand your worldview. The Percy Jackson series along with Rick Riordan's other books were the first time I truly encountered queer characters in literature. It would be another few years before I realized I was both gay and asexual, but that first introduction led me down a rabbit hole where I was better able to understand my friends and the world around me. My parents always encouraged me to form my own opinion about the world around me, and although I much prefer fantasy escapism, I have come across a good few nonfiction books that piqued my interest. I have always had an interest in human rights and politics, and during the pandemic, I read a lot about activism and the fights for queer liberation and civil rights. Books helped me to better understand the political climate that I grew up in and know what I can do to make the world a better place. Books also helped me to make friends. I met one of my best friends because he noticed me reading Harry Potter in the fifth grade. We since have found other books we love more, but he is still my go-to for a book recommendation if I'm in a reading slump. We bonded over our love of books, but we ended up having so much more in common. If I hadn't been reading Harry Potter on that fateful day, I would have missed out on an amazing friend. Because of the books I have read, I have decided to take a creative writing minor in college in hopes of one day publishing a book of my own. Books have given my life flavor. They have helped me during so many difficult parts of my life and I wouldn't be where I am today without them. I hope that someday I can bring that same peace to another child just trying to find their place in the world.

By far my favorite movie of all time, The Mitchells vs. The Machines follows your average dysfunctional family on their cross-country road trip to take their eldest daughter, Katie, to film school. What was supposed to be a week of tourist traps and fast food is brought to a halt when the machine apocalypse comes and they are the only humans left. Putting aside their differences, with only their burnt orange 1993 station wagon and their dog, the family must band together to save humanity from total annihilation. With its heartfelt message, laugh-out-loud comedy, and stunning animation "The Mitchells vs. The Machines" is a captivating film that can be enjoyed by all ages. The movie is told from the eyes of our main character, Katie Mitchell. She was a loner kid who found community in her love for filmmaking. After being accepted into the California College of Film, she dreams of getting away from her dad who never understood her interests, and finally being among "her people". With the help of her mom, Linda, an elementary school teacher by profession, and her brother, Aaron, who loves anything to do with dinosaurs, Katie and Rick come to a mutual understanding of one another's interests. This family dynamic is one of growth. None of them are perfect, but they all try their best, and when they put aside their differences, it makes one hell of a robot fight scene. At the end of the film, Katie realizes her family was "her people" all along, but she is still allowed to go out and find more people who love and understand her. Katie is your typical Gen-Z, and the humor in the movie reflects that. The film uses what the creators call "Katie Vision" to make the movie seem like it was filmed by her. From goofy sketchbook-like animations and random pauses for commentary, you are able to see deeper into the brilliant and hilarious mind of Katie Mitchell. Add in her family, their dog, the two robots they accidentally reprogrammed, and a good serving of commentary on society's reliance on technology, and you've got a comedy that will make even the toughest critic laugh. It would be wrong to talk about this movie without bringing up its brilliant animation. The movie utilizes what is known as the "comic book style" a term first coined with the movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse where 2D and 3D animation are combined to create a comic-like effect. This not only makes the characters and environments look stunning, but the team utilized it in a way that made it look like Katie herself was editing and commenting on this movie. Not to mention that the animation team had to create entirely new software to animate the robots in the final battle sequence, a scene one could watch on repeat for hours and still notice a new intricacy every time. I am a total animation nerd, and this film is honestly to blame for my applications to animation school this year. With the relatable cast, heartfelt message, great jokes, and stunning animation, I believe The Mitchells vs. The Machines will be a family favorite movie for years to come and I sure hope you'll check it out.

This Barbie is a storyboard artist by day and a small business owner by night, so it only makes sense that her dreamhouse is perfectly equipt for anything she puts her mind to. This beautiful, maximalist home located in Southern California is perfect for being close to Barbie's job while also allowing her to escape to Long Beach for a weekend of rollerskating with her best Barbie friends. Approaching the sage green house, you'll see Barbie's electric pink all-electric dream car in the driveway surrounded by a white clover lawn and a garden bed perfect for the local butterfly population. This Barbie loves nothing more than a fresh-grown tomato, so her Dreamhouse wouldn't be complete without a backyard garden for her to grow all of her favorite fruits and vegetables. But this gorgeous lawn is just the beginning. Walking into the living room, you'll see Barbie's extensive book collection (with a sliding ladder, of course) and colorful couches, reading chairs, and lamps. The room is decorated with handmade throw pillows and art pieces from Barbie's friends, a reminder of how Barbies can do anything. Barbie's fifties-style pink and green kitchen is equipt with anything she could possibly need for her cooking adventures. She has a fully stocked coffee bar to help with those late-night writing sessions and a colorful dining table, perfect for dinner with friends. And of course, the kitchen wouldn't be complete without the pink feeding station for her two dogs, Taffy and Honey. Going upstairs, Barbie's pink and orange bedroom with her four-poster bed is perfect for a weekend binging her favorite tv shows. On her bedside table is her stack of unread books and a box of tissues for when she finishes them. The bedroom comes with a walk-in closet with room for all of her favorite styles and a vanity for her to have fun experimenting with new makeup looks. Barbie's pink and gold bathroom is equipt with a beautiful shower and all of the products she needs to experiment with hair colors and keep her curls happy and healthy. This Barbie hates getting her period, so the bathroom is designed to be the perfect place to take a soothing bath or simply sit on the toilet and bleed when her time of month hits. This Barbie is prepared for everything, and her home is too. Finally is Barbie's office. When Barbie says she can do anything, she means it, so her office has everything she could need for whatever craft she's working on this week. It is also equipt with her computer, drawing tablet, art supplies for working on her comic, and everything she needs to pack orders for her small art business. This Barbie is a busy doll with a lot of interests, so her Dreamhouse must reflect her life. Barbie can be anything, and she chooses to be a single, independent doll who refuses to let society's expectations of a proper house influence how she decorates her home.

When I was little, no Saturday morning was complete without cartoons. My dad and I would sit on the living room floor with our bowls of cereal and watch Phineas and Ferb, just enjoying our time together. It didn't matter that we'd seen some of the episodes fifteen times, it was our thing. I remember one day they made a particularly funny joke on the show and my dad laughs, "I'd love to be in the room where they write one of these," he said through his chuckles. My five-year-old mind was blown. People actually get paid to make cartoons for a living? I had always been an artsy kid, but that was the first time I remember thinking of art as an actual career. My parents have always been supportive of the arts. My mom would always want to take us to the Nelson Atkins for her birthday. My sister and I would follow her around when we were little, laughing at all of the naked butts in the sculpture garden and trying to decipher the abstract art pieces. I don't think I truly appreciated how much she knew about art history. A math teacher by profession, my mom would point out all of the paintings by famous artists and talk about how she had seen their other works on her visits to Europe in her twenties. As I got older, I started to understand why she liked it so much. Now I know most of her stories by heart, and I always think of them when walking around the museum. I was a creative kid. My parents supported me in anything I wanted to do, so I never strayed from creative fields when my teachers asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. In elementary school I said I wanted to be a fashion designer, as I got older I wanted to be a writer, and then I watched Gravity Falls for the first time with my little sister. I had been a fan of cartoons before, if you can name it I probably watched it at some point or another, but there was something about that show that made me fall in love with the medium of animation. I loved the way that the Pines family felt like friends and the story felt like an escape. After I watched it I knew: I wanted to be an animator. You can say my love of art comes from my family. It has always been art that holds us together; from Saturday morning cartoons to U2 concerts, I have always felt closest to my family when we are enjoying art together. Now for my favorite artist, I could name drop some animation legends you've heard of in passing; Alex Hirsch, Dana Terrace, and Owen Dennis to name a few, but I would be lying. All of these people are wonderful, but the true artists are my parents. My mom may be too bashful to even touch a paintbrush, but she's always trying to create a way to make learning fun for her students, and she's not afraid to bust out a few dance moves in the kitchen. My dad works as a mainframe developer, but I've seen how happy he is when he's trying to perfect his chocolate chip cookie recipe or trying to draw a cartoon character for my sister. They may not be artists by profession, but they are creatives at heart, and I would not be where I am today without my favorite artists: Dana and Charles Borgmeyer.

Since I can remember, cartoons have been a part of my life. From sitting on the living room floor watching Phineas and Ferb with my dad before dance class when I was little to waking my sister up every Saturday morning so that we didn't miss the premier of the new Owl House episode, animation has always been a way for me to connect with family and learn more about myself. That is why I want to study animation in college. Animation has always been a part of my life, long past the point where it was socially acceptable for me to be watching cartoons, but it was always a safe space for me. My family and I never missed an animated movie in theaters, and I loved seeing different styles and stories come to life during the peak of animated TV. Still, it wasn't until the pandemic that my sister and I watched Gravity Falls for the first time and I decided that this was what I wanted to do with my life. Animation is magical in the sense that it is only limited by one's imagination. Through this medium, we can create worlds that would be impossible in the live-action style. We can create worlds where everyone can belong, where everyone feels safe and loved. This is what really drew me to animation. It can be slow and meticulous, but the results are so rewarding; and with all of the new methods, styles, and stories being created, I cannot wait to be a part of this medium's future. This scholarship would be incredibly beneficial to me as I try to pay for art school. I have been researching the best animation programs in the country, and although they all have amazing track records, they aren't cheap. I have taken on three jobs this summer to help save money, but I can only do so much as one person. I know my parents will be able to help me, but the cost of college has increased significantly since they graduated, and they also need to help my younger sister through college when her time comes. That is why on top of preparing my portfolio for the fall, I am applying to as many art scholarships as I can so that I can fulfill my dream without being left with a large amount of debt upon graduation. Winning this scholarship would be an amazing step toward my animation journey. Oftentimes it feels as though my career choice isn't taken seriously and that everyone thinks I'll end up being just another starving artist, but the animation industry is more extensive than most people realize, and I am so excited to be a part of it and make my mark on the world.