One of my favorite Nintendo games to play as a kid growing up was Super Smash Bros. for the Wii. The multiplayer game always had me at the edge of my seat ready to destroy anyone in my path, winning being my only motivation. The connection that the game brought with me and anyone I played it with greatly impacted me throughout my childhood as well. Growing up, playing video games was always the way my two older siblings and I would connect. Being the youngest, it was always harder to understand my siblings since they were so much older, but watching them play video games always brought me so much joy. When our parents purchased us a copy of Super Smash Bros. for our Wii we were all elated, finally having a way to play with one another. My siblings and I would spend hours battling each other on all sorts of maps, choosing our favorite characters, and being able to have fun beating each other. I always played as Ness from Earthbound, my sister was an avid Ike player from Fire Emblem, and my brother would always choose a random character, finding himself enjoying the heavy characters more than anything else. We always had so much playing and it was one of the most memorable moments of my childhood. I was never any good at playing video games, but the thought of hanging out with my siblings and having something in common always brought me joy. When the Nintendo Switch came out and we finally manipulated our parents to gift it to us, we got a copy of Super Smash Ultimate. The first game we played was that game, so happy about the wide variety of characters, and excited with every new playable character they added. We were once again all brought together by the Battle franchise, something that will always be there.

My name is Gabby and I grew up in a small town in Ohio. I never had many friends, but that never mattered to me because I was always so invested in my art. Art has always been my escape from the world, from the small town I was living in. Art has been a passion of mine since I was very little. My grandmother was an artist and I grew up drawing and painting with her, it was our connection before she passed away. I always continued to do art and always thought about how she would be proud if she saw me now. A lot of my favorite media, such as anime and webcomics, have had such a huge impact on me. My biggest inspirations for anime have been Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Fruits Basket for their beautiful technique in animation and their diverse storytelling skills. I am currently the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio for Comics and Narrative practice and minoring in business. I chose to pursue an education in the arts because I want to continue to live my life in a way that makes me happy and giving life to new ideas has always been the one thing I enjoy the most. I love creating characters and living vicariously through their adventures and relationships. My favorite part about attending an art school is the critique and advice I get from my professors and my peers. They always have so much to add and I can actively see the advances in my work as time passes. I am constantly improving at art school which is also one of the main reasons why I decided to attend. I plan to create an assortment of things in digital art. I am a digital artist and have learned the ins and outs of Procreate and I continue to learn other programs like PhotoShop. I create my characters in a space with interesting silhouettes and color palettes that fit their personality. I enjoy making comics using digital media as well as my own characters and their lives. In the future, I want to create things for other people to own, such as prints, stickers, keychains, and other physical objects for people to own. Getting my art out there for other people to enjoy is a big part of why enjoy creating in the first place and digital media get me there.

I am firmly Team Jeremiah for a multitude of reasons. Not only is Jeremiah a thoughtful and compassionate person, but he also has a special connection with Belly. He is also supportive of everything Belly does. Overall, he was always in love with Belly. The first reason why I am Team Jeremiah is because he and Belly share a special connection to one another. They are constantly talking about how they are best friends, they even go as far as in the second season to talk about having telepathy with one another. They know each other very well while still having room to get to know each other more. The way Jeremiah looks at Belly just says it all, he is so unfathomably smitten with her. One of my top reasons why I am Team Jeremiah is due to the fact that he had always been in love with Belly, others don't point it out as often as the 'crush' they claim Conrad had on her. Jeremiah says something along the lines of, "I always have liked you, but there was always Conrad and then there was Cam." During season one right before they have their first kiss in the pool. Proving the fact that Jeremiah always had a crush on Belly, though never mutual until the first season. Of course, you can claim that this was never the case, but we also have to realize that even the flashback we get is always told from the perspective of Belly and she is somewhat of an unreliable narrator. Jeremiah is also a very supportive boyfriend. At the end of the series, he decides to stay and watch Belly play volleyball with her team. This shows us he is happy to just be around Belly and see her be happy. He also joined in at the volleyball tournament prior to that when Taylor got hurt. Another reason why I am Team Jeremiah is that he is always there for Belly when she needs him the most, that being said it is not always mutual. Jeremiah rides the drop tower with Belly because he knows she is scared while the others, including Conrad of course, just watch her. Another moment that proves Jeremiah is always there for Belly is when she is sick during the summer and he hangs out with her the whole time until he gets sick, and then she hangs out with him. This shows us that Jeremiah is willing to drop whatever he is doing to go be with Belly, which shows just how compassionate he is. This can also be seen when Belly and Taylor are stranded without their clothes and he springs into action as soon as he gets word from Belly. The last reason why I am Team Jeremiah is because Jeremiah is a strong and thoughtful person. While his mother was dying he stayed with her, paid the bills, made her drinks, and never left. Conrad had the opportunity to go and visit his mother at college multiple times but instead, he was never there for his family and went to go see Belly instead. Jeremiah also never wanted to get in the way of Belly's romantic relationship with Conrad, he just wanted her to be happy despite his own misery. Though he was very upset by the fact that Belly chose Conrad, he soon decided to get past that to rekindle his friendship with Belly for the sake of both of them. In conclusion, I am hardcore Team Jeremiah and Team Jelly. He is a thoughtful, compassionate, supportive, and underrated character.

My whole life I had no idea what I was going to make of myself until I got into art class in high school. I never really gave any other career a thought because there was nothing I thought I would be good at and also enjoy. Drawing and creating stories has always been the one thing that I can do and that I enjoy doing so much that I want to make a career out of it. I want to create moving stories someday that help people like other media artwork has helped me as I was growing up, such as showing vast amounts of representation for different communities and storylines that let people know it's all okay and they are not alone. I continue to work hard and improve my art with every day and every criticism I take. I enjoy talking about art with people and how to improve our own art as well. I am a passionate artist that is currently attending the Columbus College of Art and Design for Comics and Narrative Practice and minoring in business. I am currently a sophomore and I take 18 credit hours every semester along with being in the illustration collective and J-fashion/Lolita club. I am also a student ambassador at admissions during the school year giving tours to interested students. My goal for after college is to go into the entertainment industry as a character or environment designer while doing comics and stories on the side until they can kick off into their own thing. I also want to create my own business where I sell merchandise of my own products. I work really hard to make up the tuition for college, however, I do not get a lot of support from my parents. I always work extra over the summer and try to get as many hours squeezed in at any job as possible. I always work 100% at work and give it my all no matter what. With this scholarship, I will be able to continue my studies in the field of art at my current college. I would use it to pay for my tuition at the institution. I would appreciate it so much due to going to such an expensive school and having to pay for most of it myself. The scholarship would give me some financial stress relieved off my shoulders knowing that there were amazing people generous enough to help me.

Drawing has given me a place to express myself and convey my emotions into a physical form. I identify as genderfluid, so I fluctuate between feeling feminine and gender-nonconforming and sometimes masculine, while use she/they pronouns. I never really accepted myself until I watched a cartoon on television called Steven Universe that had many gender-nonconforming characters like Garnett, Amethyst, and Pearl; it inspired me to become more like myself and come out to my friends. The feeling of being unapologetically myself is euphoric and ethereal. My goal as an artist is to inspire and change people for the better and encourage others to be themselves. I want someone to look at my art and say to themselves “I’m just like that” or “That reminds me of myself!” Diversity is a special part of our society that not only brings us together but tears us apart. Normalizing genderfluidity, different religious beliefs, sexuality, and mental illness is a large focus of what I would like to encourage with my artwork. Advocating for underrepresented groups is what I would like to work with the most. Inviting people to accept others is just the start of what I plan to do. Reaching a younger demographic through media is the fastest way to make a change in society; therefore, animation and televised media is the most inexpensive and fastest way to reach that audience. Adding diverse characters and plotlines is just an example of what to do when getting rid of harmful stigmatism against underrepresented groups.

I identify as genderfluid, so I fluctuate between feeling feminine and gender-nonconforming and sometimes masculine while using she/they pronouns. I never really accepted myself until I watched a cartoon on television called Steven Universe that had many gender-nonconforming characters like Garnett, Amethyst, and Pearl; it inspired me to become more like myself and come out to my friends. The feeling of being unapologetically myself is euphoric and ethereal. My goal as an artist is to inspire and change people for the better and encourage others to be themselves. I want someone to look at my art and say to themselves “I’m just like that” or “That reminds me of myself!” Diversity is a special part of our society that not only brings us together but tears us apart. Normalizing genderfluidity, different religious beliefs, sexuality, and mental illness is a large focus of what I would like to encourage with my artwork. Advocating for underrepresented groups is what I would like to work with the most. I want to inspire people with my art and help them more feel safe in the world by seeing people like themselves and understanding they are not alone. I would like to portray and acknowledge things everyone may feel and bring communion to the topics, such as depression or PTSD. Destigmatizing mental illness is another thing I would like to advocate for since some people do not believe it exists or create harmful stereotypes because of it. Since I struggle with my mental health, it is important to me that others understand the sort of struggles people who suffer face. I intend to strive for greatness every day despite the hardships I may face because I know my family is behind me. My mother is the core of my passion for art, herself being equally creative. My mother inspires me to keep pushing forward and to keep striving for the best I can be. She loves everything I make and is always there to support me no matter what. She has influenced me my entire life to be the best version of myself and will always be right behind me. Art is important to influence society to change as it did to me. If someone desires change and to make the world a better place, art is a fast way to get to the audience since art is in everyday life. Media such as commercials on TV, billboards o the side of the road, and murals on the side of buildings are just a few examples of art in the natural world made to advertise or make a statement. Inviting people to accept others is just the start. Reaching a younger demographic through media is the fastest way to make a change in society. Adding diverse characters and plotlines is just an example of what to do when getting rid of harmful stigmatism against underrepresented groups. Overall, art is the thing that can make a difference in people’s lives and society. No matter what happens on the earth, art is the one thing that is always there and always inspires people. Art is very important for the culture of different societies and to develop further. Without art, the earth would be a blank canvas waiting for someone to discover the luxury of art.

I identify as genderfluid, so I fluctuate between feeling feminine and gender-nonconforming and sometimes masculine. I never really accepted myself until I watched a cartoon on television called Steven Universe that had many gender-nonconforming characters like Garnett and Amethyst, it inspired me to become more like myself and come out to my friends. The feeling of being unapologetically myself is euphoric and ethereal. My goal as an artist is to inspire and change people for the better and encourage others to be themselves. I want someone to look at my art piece one day and say to themselves “I’m just like that.” Diversity is a special part of our society today that not only brings us together but tears us apart. Normalizing genderfluidity, different religious beliefs, sexuality, and mental illness is a large focus of what I would like to encourage with my artwork. Advocating for underrepresented groups is what I would like to work with the most. Inviting people to accept others is just the start of what I plan on maintaining. Reaching a younger demographic through media is the fastest way to make a change in society; therefore, animation and televised media is the most inexpensive and fastest way to reach that audience. Adding diverse characters and plotlines is just an example of what to do when getting rid of harmful stigmatism. Every artist begins somewhere, and I would like to convey with my art that I can be extraordinary, and I can encourage change. I can prove change with my media, like Steven Universe did with me. Once I graduate with a bachelor’s degree I will continue to inspire people and to become an advocating artist while influencing society to be more open-minded and understanding to others.