More Than 'Just A Writer' by Imani

More Than 'Just A Writer' by Imani - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

At age 6, I already knew I wanted to be a writer. Writing is a natural talent of mine that just flows through me like a stream into a river. I spent most of my free time writing and creating stories with my pencil and imagination. I enjoyed readingand sharing my stories with my family and friends while listening to them highly compliment my writing style. When I was in high school, I started to want to be more than a writer.

Throughout my childhood, I have discovered my other talents such as dance and acting; being a high school student at a performing arts school introduced me to more than enough opportunities to explore them. However, I felt limited. I was a creative writing major, which means all of my classes besides academics were geared towards writing genres such as Non-Fiction, Memoir, Fiction, Play-writing, News Writing, and even Graphic Novel. The difference between high school and my previous education experience was writing wasn't the only thing I focused on majority of the time, so it was more enjoyable for me.

At my performing arts high school, I obligated to the program I got accepted in. Initially, I was excited about getting in as a Creative Writing major, then overtime I grew bored. I became intrigued by the activities and opportunities that the theater and dance department had to offer than I was my own major. After having to write essays for my English and creative writing classes, I wanted more. In addition, my peers didn't take creative writing as seriously and didn't have any problem expressing how boring they thought it was.

As I continued my high school education, I felt myself falling away from writing and looking at my major as something I had to endure until graduation. The encouraging words of my mother helped me realize the many places writing could take me. My mother's words were confirmed as I began to learn the many ways writing can be used and how important it was in the performing arts. I learned how writing applied to theater, film, music, and just about everything.

By my junior year, I knew that I was more than 'just a writer'. After having the opportunity to perform in community theater and dance, I wanted to combine my passion for writing and performing. So I began to do research on college majors and careers paths that would allow me to be a writer and a performer. That's when I discovered that communications and media was the best career path for me. Looking back at my 6 year old self, she already knew what she was gonna be, but if she only knew how her education would evolve over the years, she would've known then that she was more than 'just a writer' too.