Hello, my name is Isabela Ortega and I am a college-bound artist. I am a true artist and creative at heart and have been since a young age. My plans of attending my dream school, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) came to a screeching halt in 2020 due to the rapid spread of Covid-19, after which I decided to defer my attendance. However, my acceptance with merit scholarship and boundless love for art kept my hopes high for being able to attend in 2021. In the meantime, I have still been working towards my BFA by taking CNM online courses. I have a wide range of art experience, including murals, apprenticeships, internships, and workshops here in my home state of New Mexico, as well as having attended The Oxbow School, a semester art program in Napa, California. I have experience with a variety of mediums but am most interested and familiar with sculpture and printmaking. Contemporary issues and activism are motifs and recurring themes within my artwork, as I am most often inspired by social issues and symbolism in the mundane. As a first generation, low income student and proud daughter of a hard working Mexican mother and New Mexican father, attending college to further my career as an aspiring full-time artist has been my lifelong dream. After discovering and having the opportunity to tour SAIC, I immediately felt as if I had found my place in the world. However, the financial burden of college has begun to loom and endanger my chances of experiencing this opportunity. I am currently short only a few thousand dollars for the upcoming academic year as I continue to search for and apply to as many scholarships as I can. With a bit of help, I would be able to afford tuition, art supplies, room and board, flights, and much more with a bit of ease. Any amount of donation and contribution to my goal is greatly appreciated and I thank you sincerely, from the bottom of my heart.