EDIT: Looks like I posted in the wrong thread section... Mod, could I be moved into the scholarship section please? Everyone, my apologies.
Hello All,
I found this site from a google search, so I joined and still learning how everything works. My situation is basically finishing this essay by next week. I have been out of school for over 5 years now and getting back into the academic side has been a bit tough for me. Any help on rephrasing, grammatical errors or ideas on ways to improve the essay, would be extremely appreciated. Thank you for your time and for the purpose of this review, I have attached the 4 main questions that I needed to answer in the essay. Again, thank you.
1. Your personal circumstances related to your financial need for scholarship
2. Your academic and career goals
3. Your current employment and its relationship to your future plans
4. Your leadership roles and community involvement
There was a moment in my life when I had to make the important decision and answer, what will I do with my life? I wanted to be an architect, I wanted to work with computers and I wanted to be important. Sometimes thinking back, I look at how I came to where I am today. During my senior year in high school, I made a promise to my dying grandfather, that I will forever try and make him proud by establishing our family name, Perez, so that people could always remember. I made this promise at the time so that he could fight to live. Unfortunately he did not make it and it made me angry, but it also gave me the strength I needed to pursue something out of the norm. As I focused my attentions on how to do this, I concluded that there was a need to get into the entertainment industry, pursue a degree in Film and Television with high hopes that I would be successful. It became my life's mission, my goal, my dream even though everyone I knew was against it. I believed my chosen profession would enable me to fulfill all of my desires to help others in sharing my creative vision, to continuously expand my knowledge and skills, but also to keep my promise to my grandfather.
I graduated with a BFA and started my career as a video editor for many companies within advertising agencies, special effects houses and non profit organizations along the east coast, moving from New York, Atlanta and then Virginia. This dream has gained me 5 plus years of experience in the corporate side of the industry but also a great financial hardship. Throughout my years in college, I had no other options but to partake in private student loans to cover the tuition cost at the Savannah College of Art and Design, leaving me with a debt of $140,000. My experiences that I learned throughout this career path, is that it is an industry that requires a slow climb to obtain what I had envisioned, thus far, it has not allowed me the financial security to afford a comfortable lifestyle or the ultimate dream/goal of one day being successful in the film industry.
It has been an endless struggle to carry this responsibility and now I am ready to take on this responsibility in a new way. By embarking on a new career in cybersecurity, I can establish new accomplishments and challenges that will showcase my abilities and eagerness to learn the skills needed and work toward advancing my career and life. The scholarship will give me an opportunity to further my education without having to worry about my current financial hardships, and above all, a chance to take a step closer to success.
My goals are to pursue a Masters degree in cybersecurity and excel in the program to attain a successful career within the government. This will allow me to protect and serve the US and its residence, in a different manner outside of the military. I hope to become successful protecting against cyber threats, using all of my energies to bring about constructive change and create a new path to revisit my dream of filmmaking in the distant future. I also see this as a new opportunity to help become one of the acknowledged individuals such as Dion Herbert, winner of "The Cyber 4 Awards," who exemplify excellence in government cybersecurity through their contributions to programs that address challenges and protect the U.S. data and systems.
Although my current position as a video post production specialist, does not entirely relate to the cybersecurity industry, I am willing to put all energies in becoming successful and making my current experiences count. I have worked with computers on a daily basis and its helped me understand key knowledge in troubleshooting PC and Mac platforms. During my academic involvement at UMUC, I will maintain my full time job in order to keep my experience and skills at its top performance with troubleshooting and creativity. This will allow me more avenues once I have completed a Masters in Cybersecurity so that I can gain a new position within the government by highlighting my computer involvement and customer/client based relations.
In my current career, I have gained many strengths that helped me become a leader. As a film director, everyone is looking to you for the next move, everyone depends on you for motivation, to have fun and to make a great film. Being in film for a few years helped me organize my experiences in the community for the purposes of both engagement and reflection, and socially navigate among diverse personalities and power differences. Over the last year, I gathered a group of individuals who wanted to learn more about the film process, so I shared my knowledge by creating a short film and having everyone be apart of the production on every aspect. We entered into the local community Short Film Festival, although we were not winners, we were invited back for reentry on next years festival. Everyone learned a great deal and now even some have continued to pursue a career in film production.
I've also had the opportunity to help out the community by working for a non profit organization in Virginia Beach, VA. I worked with People for the Ethnical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the animal rights movement as a leader for the audio visual department, teaching interns, archival for digital media and also leading
a group of two individuals who are now very successful in their careers. The other establishment is the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), a center for holistic healing techniques and spiritual awareness with over one million members across the world. I manage and execute their post production facility, helping them reach new heights in the digital media world, and most recently created a video used in a campaign to raise one million dollars for the reconstruction of their campus. So far this video has helped bring in $750,000 to the organization.
My goal is to take these past experiences and expand them to a new genre that will in most ways help millions of Americans against cyber threats and to one day accomplish my promise that I once made, which was to make our family name known and remembered.
During my senior year in high school, I made a promise to my dying grandfather, that I would forever try and make him proud by establishing our family name, Perez, so that people could always remember.
I made this promise at the time so that he would fight to live.
... all of my desires to help others in sharing my creative vision, to continually expand my knowledge and skills, but also to keep my promise to my grandfather.
...I can establish new accomplishments and challenges that will showcase my abilities and eagerness to learn the skills needed and work toward advancing my career and my life.
This will allow me to protect and serve the US and its residents , in a different manner outside of the military.
In my current career, I have gained many strengths that have helped me become a leader.
Being in film for a few years has helped me organize my experiences in the community for the purposes of both engagement and reflection, and socially navigate among diverse personalities and power differences.---I have to stop here to say what an excellent writer you are, and that I sure think you're going into the right profession, as you have a good and interesting way of getting your point across.
Your essay is excellent. They'll be lucky to have you as a student.
Good luck in school and have fun!
:)
