Tallahassee, FL, Unknown. Arts for Life! A committee of judges for each of the five disciplines, comprised of respected experts, reviews and scores the students essays and work samples. Students with the top scores in each discipline are awarded a scholarship.
Award Process: Scholarships will be awarded to winners at a luncheon in their honor. Recipients are invited to perform or exhibit their artwork during the event. Growing up as a first-generation American, struggling —— with customs, language, and money —— was a constant; but, I was eight years old. I thought everyone was against me, even my worn out textbook.
After days of fighting equations and questioning my intellectual ability, I finally gained the courage to stay after school and practically beg my fourth grade teacher for help. Sitting hunched over by his enclosed desk, I observed him as he effortlessly worked out the problems, narrating the tumultuous process that was long division. I stared at him the same way I stared at those questions by myself at home. The clock grew tired of turning, and he grew tired of my silent confused stare.
The days rolled along in dreadful routines until the standardized testing day came knocking at my door. I felt myself dragging my feet in through the school gates that morning while my tears peered over my eyebags. My hands were stiff, almost in the same position where I held my book the night before to try and understand one last time.
Frankly, nothing could prepare me for the utter feeling of defeat I would face after I had placed my completed test into that plastic bin. And again months later as I glared at my score: a 2 out of 5. For so many years I thought I had failed myself, my parents, and my previous teachers. With this came pressure, expectations, challenges that I failed to meet.
At least, that is how I felt: like a fraud. I learned to resent numbers: their cold, hard certainties. Their power to define me. I developed new study habits. I made sense of numbers.
I overcame the sense of betrayal I felt at the algebraic incorporation of my beloved letters into mathematics. I have waged war against the supposed power of statistics to predict my future and the future of those around me, advocating for education reform, and working to increase the accessibility of resources for those who face the same restrictions and burdens that I did. I have volunteered at my elementary school for two consecutive years of high school, hoping to be a lifeline for shy 8 year-olds that struggled in silence, like I did.
Numbers, like possibilities, are infinite. Equations are problems to be solved. I am ready to work on bridging those realities. To save the world. I am seventeen years old. The government hates everyone who isn't them. The rebellion that has chosen me is shady at times.
Growing up, I always thought that I was clever. I thought I was independent. But that was when blood running outside of my body was an occurrence when I skinned my knees biking to school or knocking heads with my brother or when I got into that accident that gave me a black eye, not when guns became a daily part of my lifestyle.
I feel like a kid again, all the time, but I have to bite back those instincts and grow up for the sake of the narrative around me-- I am the chosen one, they say. I am their leader. The cool night air is gentle.
I wonder where subtlety went. It seems like each event in my life has turned into posturing, sarcasm, and explosions. Over the years, she served Friends of the Arts as a board member, president, and interim executive director.
In , she was formally recognized by the St. Louis Park City Council for her contributions to the community. Through her conviction and determination, and with the help of other arts advocates in St.
Louis Park, she founded the Arts for Life Scholarship Fund, and Friends of the Arts is proud to have her name and legacy attached to the fund. Susan right spreading the Friends of the Arts mission at a summer arts festival in the early days of the organization. About Us.
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