I wish to begin by thanking you earnestly for supporting the ‘Jonathan Giver Scholarship for Academic Excellence’ and for choosing me as one of its recipients for this academic year. I am immensely grateful as I am certain this scholarship will grant me access to several opportunities that I sincerely intend to avail myself of. I am wholly dependent on student loans, financial assistance and grants for funding my higher education. Thus, this scholarship is a welcome relief that will decrease my financial challengesas I pursue further studies (SDSU, n.d).
I have always aspired to graduate from San Diego State University. It is here that my parents met one another as students, and I remember my vacations in high school when I used to visit San Diego and this campus often with my parents to attend basketball and football matches. I am a resident of Bear Valley, California, where I attended high school and graduated top of my class. I belong to the Gamma Sigma Alpha sorority. I hold two university club memberships: the Journalism Club and the Women’s Soccer Sports Club. I spend my evenings on a part-time job with the Aztec Book Store. I intend to become a filmmaker after graduating from university (SDSU, n.d).
I was born in Lahore, Pakistan where I spent only the first three years of my life. From then on, my dad’s job led us to different corners of the globe. I have resided in 6 countries up until now and had a hard time adjusting to different customs, languages and people. My minority status in all those countries always had me in trepidation: I didn’t know whether the kids from my new school and community would be friendly or alienate me. Our family shifted to the US immediately after I was done with junior high. The Bear Valley community took to our family instantly. As a thank you to them for their warm acceptance of us, I volunteered for community services throughout high school. I opted for a filmmaking course since I wish to use film as a medium to create awareness about, and aid, underrepresented and underprivileged groups of society.
Interning with Universal Studios, Hollywood, I have been able to acquire important insights into documentary filmmaking and acquired novel skills, including multiple lighting techniques. I have understood the intrinsic challenges linked to relating a tale with no support of any major studio. I have recognized, in my work with the studio, the significance of storyboards for filmmakers and how data is to be appropriately and correctly recorded during location shooting. My work with the editing room was the task I found most enjoyable, as it helped hone my Premiere skills. Further, at this particular production stage, I found I was being most useful. I could now view the end result of the efforts put in by such a large number of diverse individuals having diverse roles and responsibilities, and could easily look at the big picture.
My internship reinforced my decision to pursue documentary filmmaking. I utterly enjoyed location shooting, and found myself galvanized by the challenges associated with thinking quickly and resolving small issues using minimal resources. The novel skills I acquired and honed at the Universal Studios will prove instrumental to my independent projects.
Throughout high school at Bear Valley, I have actively participated in sports, having been appointed the school’s sports president as well as captain of the school volleyball team. I have also always enjoyed playing tennis, towards which I devoted time even in high school. I continue to actively play the game to this day. Despite my initial struggles and financial challenges, I was never deterred from pursuing higher education and my career of choice. This scholarship means a lot to me as I find myself one step closer to accomplishing my long-term dream to help underrepresented and underprivileged Americans (SDSU, n.d).
I thank you profusely once again for the Jonathan Giver Scholarship, and am really grateful for this substantial financial support towards my education. I will strive hard to honor this scholarship’s commitment.
Bibliography
SDSU. (n.d). SDSU sample scholarship thank you letter. Retrieved from San Diego State Universitty: http://go.sdsu.edu/student_affairs/financialaid/sampleletter3.aspx
