WHY APPLY FOR A SCHOLARSHIP?

I hope that my earlier prompt to review the Office of Financial Aid's scholarship link clued you into an important source of funding for your education: scholarships and grants. If you did review the list then you undoubtedly came across the Myrt Purkiss scholarship for first time freshman, and the Community College Transfer scholarship for transfer students--two scholarships I coordinate specifically for art students. Well, the deadline for both is soon approaching (April 23), so I guess
it's time to share the application with you.

You should have received a copy of the appropriate application in my weekly email. If you didn't email me and I'll send one off to you.

The application is self-explanatory so I won't review the requirements here (email me questions, however). What I want to say here is why you should channel some of your precious time into applying.

So, why apply for a scholarship? The number two reason to apply for a scholarship is the money. Both of these scholarships award students $1000. Now, if you win, you're up $1000 you didn't have before. Cool. On the other hand, you might be saying, $1000? That's barely 1/3 a year's worth of tuition. Why bother?

Indeed, why bother. Furthermore, the campus has all sorts of additional awards in
the $100 - $500 range you'll be able to compete for. $100? Again, why bother?

Glad you asked. The number one reason to apply for scholarships? Self promotion and seriousness. Another way to put it: winning--no matter the size of the check--looks great on a resume, and, it shows you are serious about your work and your ambitions.

Each one of you is pursuing art because your mom, a teacher--someone whose opinion you respect--thinks you are the world's next Rodin, Picasso, Cassatt--whomever. That support is a great confidence booster. However, that's not the sort of support you can place on a resume. What shines on a resume and what future employers like to see is that you are serious enough about your art to have applied for a scholarship or submitted work to an art competition and a group of impartial judges chose your work as the best. That's the sort of recognition that gets you additional awards, freelance jobs, and employment. The more acknowledgements of your talent you can collect, the better.

Lastly, I'll tell you that historically I don't get a lot of applications for
these two competitions. I'm hoping that based on this little speech, this year will be different. A very bad reason for not applying (and unfortunately, it's a common one) is the tendency of young artists to dismiss their ability. No matter who your are, and how talented you are, there's always going to be someone who's more talented or grabs more attention. The best way to respond to that, in my mind, is to work harder, continue developing your craft, and get your work out there in competitions and exhibitions. You'll eventually get noticed.

To bring this sermon down to Earth, in the applied arts--graphic design, illustration, animation--sheer talent will take you far. But talent + a strong work ethic will take you even farther. Think about it: if you are producing an animated feature and a deadline is drawing near, you're going to hire the freelancer who will put in consistent 16 hour days for a month than the flaky star animator who had the ideas that launched the project, but who may or may not
show up for work.

Okay, enough already. Just apply. The money's good: the job and art therapy is better.