UCS College of Arts and Letters (University of California Sacramento)

California is where I was born. I want to go back to truly experience what life is like in the golden state, because from what I understand from the various anecdotes I was given, there’s endless opportunities and millions of people to meet. I do believe that a little bit of city life is great, but I don’t think I could handle an intense lifestyle in somewhere like Los Angeles. Sacramento offers that balance.

Prompt
4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

Things to consider: An educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. For example, participation in an honors or academic enrichment program, or enrollment in an academy that’s geared toward an occupation or a major, or taking advanced courses that interest you — just to name a few.

The Los Angeles Film School

3 out of the 5 colleges I selected were located in California. There’s no denying that California is one of the major centers for film/digital media. Hollywood is close to the school, and Los Angeles city life offers the bustle that Honolulu has, but amplified. I know I stated that I probably couldn’t handle Los Angeles lifestyles, but I can’t say that it’s hard without experiencing it.

UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television (University of California Los Angeles)

Although not technically an ivy league school, it’s still arguably one of the best in the state and perhaps among the top 25 at least, in the country. Going here for the education alone isn’t my intention, though. Many prosperous and recognized individuals in various industries were alumni from this school; alumni from this area. Countless people that I look up to that are very talented in film or television have gone to this school or have lived near the area. Meeting people who have the same intentions that you do in terms of what you want to do in life is no hard task, as there’s millions that would want to pursue the same passions you are pursuing.

Prompt
2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

Things to consider: What does creativity mean to you? Do you have a creative skill that is important to you? What have you been able to do with that skill? If you used creativity to solve a problem, what was your solution? What are the steps you took to solve the problem?

How does your creativity influence your decisions inside or outside the classroom? Does your creativity relate to your major or a future career?

RHSD (Rhode Island School of Design)

Trying something new and simply not sticking to whatever I've done before is usually my most effective way of changing. Rhode Island is across the entire USA. Being next to Maryland, and the school being known as one of the more proficient schools that teach design, I think you can't really go wrong if I choose to pursue a career that starts in the state.

Prompt
The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

UHM Department of Art & Art History (University of Hawaii Manoa)

The closest to home. Honestly, if going to another place in the world would prove to be too difficult for me due to being so homesick or being too scared to venture, UH is not a bad college to consider. I can support my parents from here without suffering from racking up too much debt, while being able to get into the industry of design at the same time.

KCC Digital Media Arts Program (Kauai Community College)

This island is sleepy, yet, the most beautiful place I’ve visited. If Oahu was Hawaii’s New York, then Kauai is Hawaii's Montana, in a way. It can get boring, with what feels like just one road that goes throughout the entire coast of the island, but it’s the kind of place where you can really get attached to because everything just feels so perfect. The college itself is very affordable, the industry of digital media in the island is primitive with minimal competition (which may make career-finding easier), and my father lives somewhat close to the college.

    It’s just the three of us. We were the only children in this tiny village of ours in Congo. We knew the Republic was one to take children to employ as soldiers. We didn’t know that they’d find us. Our parents told us to stay hidden. Not a sound, not a peek. The sound of the wheels stopping and braking directly outside our household and the households of all the other families in our village. The commanders demanding the same thing over and over; “Your children”. They had a gun to our father’s head. We’d already lost our mother, and I didn’t want our only parent left to leave us. So I went. I was the oldest of the three; 5 years, in fact. They couldn’t possibly have taken our other two. Too young to wield a gun. So I made a request; take me, but not my brothers. I told the middle child in our family to hold our youngest back, should he chase after me. He understood, but he still cried. It was the most I’ve seen them cry. It wasn’t rain that shed from their eyes; it was a river. We drove off. It’s likely the last time I will see them.



    Maroon and white. Every school in our district instantly recognized our school’s colors. Not because we had star players or that our mascot was dope; it was because we were the worst team in the district. Like, 0-12 for the past three seasons. It was ridiculous. But somehow, something changed. We weren’t the top team, but we made playoffs. Then we climbed, and climbed, and all of a sudden; we’re against the top team. First seed. We had one plan that night; to play our hearts out. We broke the curse of losing, so why not gain our first championship? And that’s exactly what we did. We threw our arms in the air, shouting “Colorado!” The trophy in our hands, shining ever so bright in the face of all the hardship we’d already been through. All these players; it was a pleasure to coach them.

Coming of Age, in essence, is supposed to mean the transition from one's adolescence to adulthood. With this poster, I tried going with the "yin-yang" approach. The left half is corrupted, it's flowers blue; it's theme generally quite dark. The right is pure, it's flowers true colors are presented, and it's theme is a lighter and "happier" than it's counterpart.