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Penelope White

915

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1x

Finalist

Bio

Hi! I'm Penelope, but my friends call me Pen. Ever since I was a young girl, I have had an unwavering bond to the arts. As a toddler, I would draw stacks of art. When I was only 5 years old I sang and danced in my first show, and from that moment on I have performed nearly every year since. At age 15 I began writing stories, and have grown an utter passion for it. Writing allows me to live lives that aren't my own, tell stories that need to be heard and speak the truth that can be hard to accept. I hope to use my passion for writing in my future career to entertain, inform and inspire.

Education

Middletown High School

High School
2019 - 2023

Miscellaneous

  • Desired degree level:

    Bachelor's degree program

  • Majors of interest:

    • Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies
    • English Language and Literature, General
  • Not planning to go to medical school
  • Career

    • Dream career field:

      Writing and Editing

    • Dream career goals:

    • Cashier

      Pop In Artisan Pops
      2022 – Present2 years

    Arts

    • Middletown High School Theatre

      Acting
      Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, Puffs, Curtains the Musical
      2019 – Present

    Future Interests

    Advocacy

    Volunteering

    Philanthropy

    West Pullman Scholarship
    Click, Clack, Click, Clack...that rhythmic tick echoed through my room, imparting solace to me as a raging storm swept through my neighborhood. I had done it. Practically two years of researching, planning, approaching, writing and applying had ultimately paid off...I was accepted into my top-choice college. A dream I had never thought attainable, especially regarding the majors of my choice: creative writing and film and media production. Since my youth, I wished to be an actress, yet upon proceeding into high school that all changed. Being merely four years from adulthood, my parents disabused my acting notions. Declaring it was far from the right call and preferably I should have a felicitous profession. Therefore, I began high school with despondency. The dolor however did not last long, as Covid-19 struck midway through my freshman year, derailing my entire high school experience. Years-long quarantine was detrimental to everyone although, by some miracle, the seclusion extremely benefited me. Apprehensive about gathering together with friends and family, I required a hobby to immerse myself and a means to be with friends...so I forged them. I crafted stories about brave heroines facing their internal demons as well as the pitilessness of society, discovering fortitude in myself along the way. I enabled my family to read my pieces and, to my astonishment, they received glowing reviews! In school my essays regularly obtained encouraging comments on their detail and depth, inspiring me to pursue writing as a future career. Resulting in my choice of creative writing as my initial major. With such a major it would enable me to entertain and tenuously influence our dynamic social media age. Throughout college, I could learn to refine my writing skills-from organization, editing, revising, grammar and punctuation-to someday pen novels or scripts. Furthermore, when I partner creative writing with film and media production my aptness to create stories substantially rises. In consequence, I would have learned the techniques to not only compose tales but produce and direct these stories as well. Cooperatively, these majors concede me with much mobility; I could write, direct or produce commercials, movies, and tv shows, or alternately write novels. The possibilities are limitless!! This is precisely what provides me with so much passion for these majors, they work in league with one another to afford me an opening for various career opportunities. (Something that majoring in acting presumably would not have offered me, drastically restricting my career selection and what I would be qualified to do.) Additionally allowing for me to express my thoughts and views in these future projects, bestowing me with routes to tell the stories of minorities, another passion of mine. I am a proud Afro-Latina, and growing up I habitually felt jettisoned. I was never enough for anyone...I was too "White" for the Black kids, too "Black" for the White kids and too much of both for the Hispanic kids. Not to mention our Eurocentric media prevented me, as well as other kids of color, from seeing ourselves in characters on screen, advancing these feelings of scorn. This only hastened the lure towards my intended majors, dreaming that one day I could weave a tale with an array of diverse characters, allowing for universal portrayal. Empowering children to realize their self-worth and beauty, as well as providing them with strong role models as they grow. Gifting the children of tomorrow the representation the children of yesterday never had. Therefore, I am passionate about my ensuing majors! Which promises multiple career options, the opportunity for my subsequent stories to express my voice and campaign for a brighter and more inclusive future.
    Book Lovers Scholarship
    The world is brimming with hundreds of thousands of books and each day more are being inscribed by starry-eyed writers. With innumerable stories to choose from one would imagine it would be challenging to choose just one however, I would easily settle on Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. The novel, originally published in 1818, is considered to be one of the first gothic stories ever written, and this one happens to be one of my favorites. I suggest that the entirety of mankind read this tale, seeing that it teaches the audience that one must take responsibility for themselves and their actions. Victor Frankenstein hailed from a wealthy family in Geneva, Switzerland then when he became a young adult he ventured to Germany for higher education in the realm of sciences. With the encouragement of professor Dr. Waldman at the university of Ingolstadt, Victor Frankenstein decided to undertake chemistry and other new methods of science. With the hopes of cementing his name in the history books for all of time and achieving feats nobody had ever aimed to do before; create life. Thus, he sealed himself away in his lab for months on end and eventually created life, his monster. Once he brought the creature to life and caught a glimpse of his hideous face, Victor fled from the scene and spends the remainder of the novel running from the monster. He never told a soul that he made the monster, which results in his whole family dying, an unfair sentencing that leads to the death of an innocent and Victor's best friend Henry being murdered by the monster. So, as one can see, by Victor running from the original problem, more issues followed suit which utterly destroyed his life and family. The novel ends with Victor dying on board Robert Walton's ship in Antarctica, having wrecked his health scurrying across the globe to avoid the monster he made and never truly learning his lesson. Preaching to the audience the importance of responsibility and taking account of one's actions. Avoiding your personal mistakes only creates countless more and eventually leads to one's own demise. This book teaches that lesson perfectly with its ending, of Victor losing everything he held dear, a lesson I feel as though everyone ought to learn, since humanity is naturally flawed. Hence why I chose the novel Frankenstein for the world to read.