Broadcasting Your Aspirations Scholarship

As someone born just before the turn of the century, I have lived in a world where television is prominent in day to day life. Whether for Saturday morning cartoons or for the daily news when returning home; the television has become a staple in the household. However, it has been more than a distraction or an information database for me. The most important thing about television to me is the effort that people put in to produce shows. I think the first time I saw the "behind the scenes" of any T.V shows (such as Doctor Who or Supernatural) was when I was completely inspired. I have always had a love for details, for putting together all of the little bits to see something magnificent appear. Seeing this in my favorite T.V shows made me love attention to detail even more.  Through school I became more and more interested in what it takes to create the visual and audio effects that we see in television and film. I learned from my teachers in Stagecraft and Design when I attended Denver School of the Arts that it takes a lot of people and a lot of effort to put all of the little bits together. I worked on stage productions, and even though we were not being filmed, the creation of props and sets, costumes and lighting all contributed to how the production came together. As I watch the appendices for movies or television shows I know that even though I am not filming my production in theater, that it still takes the same amount of effort in order to bring it all together. When I transferred schools to Denver School of Science and Technology I thought that all of my love for this creation, this producing and designing was going to disappear because I was transferring from arts to sciences. Yet, that is another thing that the background action of television taught me: never give up. There are hundreds of takes for the episodes we watch in order to make them perfect, and everyone knows that Rome wasn’t built in a day. So I did exactly what producers like Robert Singer and Russell T. Davies would have done and persevered.  I have continued building my repertoire throughout high-school and in the beginning of my senior year was struck with a very hard decision. Film studies or theatrical studies? I applied to the University of Chicago at the beginning of my senior year, under the major of Theatrical Design. The important thing that I learned from television, not in the background action but on the screen, is that you should always follow your dreams when you can. Even though the television world has had a big impact on the way that I view the world around me and the way that I create all of my effects, I have always had a passionate love for the theater arts. Television in the most simplest of terms is teaching, influencing those who watch to act or think certain ways. In my life television has influenced not only the way that I view details but how I deal with people around me, more importantly television has taught me that I should never give up on my dreams. No matter where my major takes me in life I know that there are applications I have learned from watching T.V that I can use in every aspect of my day to day life.