Fund Gabrielle's Final Semesters at Spelman

My name is Gabrielle Burnett; I am a junior at Spelman College with three (3) semesters left until I can graduate! I am an art major with a minor in art history who plans on going to get her masters in an art history-related field. I showcase my art over an aesthetic photo of me in the schoolyard because that is what I am known for. Any recent art major graduate and any professor could tell you that I spend countless hours in my school's art annex, perfecting and expanding my craft. I am on a mission to learn everything and anything needed to operate an art studio so that I can volunteer or operate any studio across the U.S. to establish myself within my crafts while collaborating with artists nationwide.

I dream of using my degree to become a director of my animated series. I am working towards that goal at Spelman by working with the Audio and Visual department, recording live events on campus, and being self-directed in how I choose to capture events. The team loves to encourage my dream of directing and has given me experience in working in production trucks designed to live stream important events at Sisters Chapel. I may be taking the most unconventional route at becoming a director, but I feel there is nowhere else that can give me the experiences or the confidence to act on my dreams as Spelman does.

So why continue to choose Spelman? Spelman continues to provide me with the perfect class and real-life experiences. I feel confident that when I leave Spelman College, I can excel in any career I choose to pursue. Spelman gives me the confidence to explore what I am passionate about. The art showcased as the poster of this fundraiser was made as part of my junior showcase, in which I had to fill in a part of my portfolio that I was not strong in. In my case, it was making a series of artworks that inform each other. I wanted to make artwork that followed my mission statement that "kids should feel limitless and not limited through my artwork". This series of works was made for viewers to pursue the part of them that is considered " weird for the black community. Clowns best fit the category of weirdness as a clown can fall into a form of expression in the name of art. The steps it took to create this series could not have been spurred on any college campus.

Why am I fundraising? My family has been no stranger to financial hardships for the last few years. It started with losing the jobs that financed everything we needed while still having enough to save for a rainy day. Then, one too many rainy days popped up to cover medical bills and housing. Currently, we are staving off the debts of those bills with the money we can earn, but there is so much debt that any money barely puts a dent into solving it. A member of my family may have made some rash decisions to make money quickly to pull themselves out of the hole but have only dug deeper into debt. In turn, my college career was sacrificed so that we could help lessen the debts. I have spent my summers attempting to raise money by working to the fullest to pay for college, but even that, with the loans and financial aid given from the school, is not enough to support me for the number of semesters I have left.

So, I am doing the hard thing by asking for donations to help me make it through school. I am so close to graduating from Spelman that I must make sure I did everything I could to finish on time. I am starting with the amount needed to cover my fall semester, hoping things will turn around financially for the spring semester. The money will be used to cover a meal plan, school supplies, and tuition. I need at least 6,000 before August 7th so that I do not lose my housing assignment and classes. I cannot afford to stay off-campus without the help of alumnae through housing and daily travel, as any extra money I make through my on-campus jobs goes to groceries and to pay for art supplies needed to accomplish my class goals. Please share my page with as many Spelman alumna and people willing to help a Spelmanite reach her dream of graduation. Thank you for all of the ways you can support my dreams.