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Hello, I am applying as a transfer student to an Art and Design College in New York.
Please review the three questions highlighted in red, and enhance each using what I have already written. I am just having a little trouble pulling it all together and making it flow.
*Elaborate on my thoughts and ideas throughout the whole document, particularly the first question regarding “what social issue or system would you make the focus of your efforts to effect change?”
*Please put the ADHD portion in sequence because I jumped around a bit with it
*Please feel free to delete any portions if I sound redundant.
*Pull ideas together and make them flow.
This paper is for my son who is applying to transfer to an Art and Design College in New York.
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In your study or work at The New School, what social issue or system would you
make the focus of your efforts to effect change? (200 words minimum or 1,200
character minimum)
The social issue that I would like to focus on changing is the…
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Deficit of creative opportunities available to Black male adolescents in America. I
plan on doing this by Breaking barriers in education and art for African American
males by Creating more opportunities in creative fields.
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Talk about how this is an issue such as I wasn’t exposed to alot of
opportunities relating to creative fields. Many inner city schools remove visual
and performing arts programs to cut budgets, taking the passion out of
education for those students who don’t thrive in a conventional way but excel in
creative classes such as performing or visual arts.
Using my experience from African American Pipeline Program (AAMPP), a college
preparatory program that mentors minority males from under privileged and
underrepresented backgrounds; and International Design Academy (ITA), my goal
is to expose Black children to the many creative career paths in the world of art
and technology.
Through my studies at The New School, I wish to encourage Black creatives of
what is possible by pursuing their passion and higher education, by using myself
as an example and one day giving back to the community by creating programs
like AAMPP and ITA, which I was a part of.
Using opportunities for TNE education to help other young Black creatives like
myself who don’t receive enough encouragement or support.
what social issue or system would you make the focus of your efforts to
effect change? I would focus my efforts on changing the amount of exposure
given to creative fields in the public educational system.
Now that I am in the position and have broken the barrier I want to break down
more barriers and give back to young men like myself in the future.
AAMPP broke down barriers in education for me and education was more than
just a possibility.
AAMPP helped me to realize my true potential and that school, and going to
college to a top university like The New School was possible, and to see myself
there.
The new school was possible and I could really see myself there.
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Going through the ITA AP Computer Science program in High School, which lit
the spark of digital design in me as career path.
I received high honors
I was accepted to Manhattan College in New York on an academic scholarship.
Additionally, my talent for art has been recognized by someone in the industry1
My neighbor who is also an illustrator and works with Cartoon Network and Pixar
has been mentoring and encouraging me to focus on illustration.
My mentor who works in the industry created opportunities for me so i feel it is
part of my responsibility to work to create opportunities to others
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What specific aspects of The New School’s academic programs or community drew
you to apply? Please pay particular attention within your essay to the college,
program, and or campus to which you have applied. (200 words minimum or 1,200
character minimum)
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The design school and especially the illustration department is what drew me to
the school. I have always been interested in art and it has been a goal of mine to
pursue it professionally. Through the countless professors i have studied under,
parsons has always come up as one of the best places to be for people like myself
majoring in design.
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Through my own research and the recommendations from professors, the
rigorous Illustration and marketing programs I saw the school offered caught my
attention, and made me feel as if this is where I belong.
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As well as the quality of work from the design students and the academic
resources provided..
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The campus of Parsons is a place I have walked past countless times while living
in New York, everytime i walk past the creative energy on the campus is
intoxicating. Because of this I feel my skills and quality of work would greatly
benefit from being in such an environment. The community around and inside of
the new school is something that also drew me to the school. While I don’t
currently attend, I have friends from highschool who do. While visiting I fell in
love with the environment and community Parsons has. Talking to other
illustration majors and seeing the support they showed for each other and I, even
though I wasn’t attending, made me feel at home.
The personal statement helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you
want admissions readers to know about you that is not reflected elsewhere in your
application? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an
essay using the prompt to inspire and structure your response (1,250 – 3,250
characters, approx. 250 – 650 words).Some students have a background, identity, interest,
or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it.
If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
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My passion for Art is directly from my father, an avid comic book collector, who took
that inspiration to become a great artist himself. However, he never pursued his
passion due to becoming a parent. My goal is to pursue my own passion and push
forward in a dream he was never able to complete. In 2016 my father had a serious
health scare that made me realize, I had to take advantage of the time we have, as
nothing is ever promised. At an early age, I realized life is short and regrets are
longer. This pushed me to chase my passions, even if at the time of the health scare, I
still didn’t know if art was the exact passion I wanted to chase. During my senior year
of highschool, I began taking art seriously and connected with my mentor, Ryan
Mattais, a concept artist. I now had focus and my love for art bloomed beyond what I
could have imagined. I realized
that Illustration is my love and my dream is to become a full time illustrator.
Another huge interest of mine has always been clothing and creatively styling myself
with a combination of pieces from my favorite brands and vintage stores. Growing
up, I moved schools constantly, so I had trouble feeling welcomed. I was also a shy
child so it would take energy to push myself to open up and make new friends. To
combat this, I would always put effort into the outfits I wore, and try to create the
best outfit that I could. This gave me confidence to reach out to the kids around me
and helped me to feel like myself in new environments. This is something that
followed me into highschool and college. The outfits that I wear have evolved to a
point of pushing my own creativity and my self expression. An outfit can start off as
something I’m not comfortable with, but with my artistic flare, I can create an outfit
that expresses my unique sense of style and who I am as a person.
I didn’t feel smart in school
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As early as kindergarten, I struggled when I tried to concentrate on most assignments.
I was easily distracted by the stimuli around me, such as other students or noises from
outside the classroom. I could barely sit still for five minutes before I gave in to the
unbearable urge to fidget. It was during 1st grade, that I was diagnosed with Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts
one’s ability to control impulses, organize thoughts or belongings, and manage time.
As a result, this disorder has been a significant obstacle I’ve faced when attempting to
achieve my educational goals.
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Adhd has created barriers for my education by making it more difficult for me to
process information and actively listen in lectures. It also created challenges in timemanagement and procrastination. To combat this, I have come up with strategies to
help me focus and take full advantage of the educational opportunities I have. My
biggest accomplishment during the past two years in college was figuring out how to
manage my time effectively and understanding my strengths and weaknesses.
Through this greater understanding, I was able to receive straight A’s during
Fall/Winter semester at Manhattan College, while also finding time to create some of
the best artworks I’ve made in my life.
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I struggled in school because I had ADHD.
Throughout my journey, I have had to learn how to control my physical
dysregulation. I have done this by understanding that when I get antsy, I need to take
a break. In order to sustain my attention, I reduce distracting stimuli. Additionally, if
I’m frustrated, I engage in deep breathing strategies to reduce stress and anxiety. I’ve
also realized that I can better control my ADHD if I start my day with a positive
mindset–essentially, this growth mindset allows me to effectively gameplan what
needs to be done and better prioritize tasks. In dealing with ADHD, I’ve also realized
that I must be willing to accept uncomfortable situations and keep an open mind. In
essence, I see this as a way to allow growth, which can require me to be
uncomfortable and adapt to change and new situations. The combination of these
mental attributes has made me more resilient, which has been extremely beneficial
when I face a difficult and lengthy exam or art assignment.
I struggled in Math and it was always hard for me.
Math was always a subject that I struggled with, which essentially came from not
knowing how to work around my ADHD when I was younger. It was always difficult
for me to sit down and absorb information in a conventional way like other students
in the class. When looking at other students retaining all information from class, it
made me feel less than and that I was stupid for not being able to learn that way.
Later, I learned, I just needed a more hands on approach with my education, such as
one on one sessions with teachers.
I took a humanities class, and when I took a humanities class I found out what my
real passion was.
Since I had struggles with learning when it related to math, I gravitated towards
humanities classes. I took a ceramics class freshman year of highschool which opened
my eyes to the different forms art could take. Even though it was a ceramics class, we
were instructed to do sketch warm ups at the beginning of every class. At first, I
thought these assignments were a waste of time, since the assignment wasn’t
ceramics related. However, I realized I had talent in being able to recreate the images
we were supposed to sketch, with accuracy that surpassed the level of a beginner.
This revelation led to the sketch warm ups at the beginning of class being my
favorite. Unknown to me at the time, this drastically helped me to grow confidence in
my artistic ability.
Throughout the rest of my highschool experience I would doodle and draw in my
freetime, never taking it seriously, until the tail end of my senior year. I was doing a
sketch in class, when one of my best friends looked over and talked about how he
was impressed with my style of sketches and the style I had been developing. My
best friend had always been a harsh critic, so initially I thought he was joking.
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However, he said he was dead serious and really loved the style. He said, “you’re
actually good, you could definitely sell some of your designs”. This stuck with me,
because I always wanted to sell my designs on a t-shirt but never knew how. Putting
my designs on t-shirts was the first thing I thought of when selling my designs since
I’ve always had a love for clothes and graphic tees.
It seems like a natural progression but from this time onward, I’ve been obsessed
with putting my ideas and designs on clothes. My obsession turned to excitement
which transformed into the confidence that led me to create a t-shirt line with my
own designs. It was a small run and I only had the funds to create 8 shirts. Upon
making the decision to getting the printed shirts, I began to second guess things,
thinking there would be a little interest. I thought I wouldn’t be able to sell more
than 5 shirts. However, after doing some marketing through different social media
platforms, I was able to create some buzz and even got pre-sales. Once I got the
shirts, I was able to sell all the same day. It was a great feeling to have an idea go
from paper, to manufacturer to the hands of customers in such a short amount of
time. It also helped my confidence in my artwork because so many people wanted
one. Even after they had all sold, I had people asking me if i had anymore. With an
education from the new school i believe i can take my talent for creativity and
artwork to the next level.
Sold all my shirts on the first run.
Created a social media campaign to see who was actually interested in my shirts.
I created a word of mouth buzz to get the word out as well.
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