HELP ANNABELLE GO TO CALARTS!

My name is Annabelle Hayford and I'm a 17-year old graduating senior from Virginia Beach, VA. I attend Princess  Anne High School and the Governor School for the Arts.

As a child, I struggled with communicating my thoughts and ideas to others because of my speech impediment. I turned to art because it allowed me to find my voice. As I began spending a lot more time and energy on creating art, it transitioned from being my translator into being an amplifier for my ideas. I soon realized that I wanted to become an Animator.

Animation is a medium of art that is a universal language. It has the capacity to reach and influence all individuals, no matter their age, gender, or race. This is why I have grown to love animations. Through the use of sequential imagery showcasing strong narratives, learning animation will give me the opportunity to inspire people with my work.(here is a link to my work )

Due to my love for  animation, it has always been a dream of mine to attend CalArts. CalArts has one of the best animation programs in the world and will help me pursue my dream of becoming an animator.
Due to my deep passion for attending CalArts, I've pushed myself  to develop my portfolio early on in high school.

However, my journey has not been easy. Throuhgout my journey, I have had to deal with a huge amount of schoolwork, emotional distress, and personal conflicts. To make things more difficult, I had to basically restart my whole CalArts portfolio at the last minute due to a very harsh portfolio reivew from a CalArts admissions counselor. Even though I felt heavily discouraged, I still found the strength to sumbit my application less than 10 minutes before the deadline!

Fortunately, with hard work, dedication, and  some luck, I got accepted into CalArt's character animation program for Fall 2016!

However , my newest roadblock is money.  Although I received some grants, small scholarsahips, financial
aid, and loans from Calarts, I still have an outstanding amount of money I owe. To make matters worse, I live in a low-income household. Along with that, my mom is a prime caretaker of grandma who needs a lot of medical assistance.  With this lack of money, my dream of attending this great school may not come true. 

I am currently applying to a number of  scholarships, and plan on getting a job in the summer and in college. However, none of this is guaranteed which is why I created this fund.

If you do donate,  I will provide rewards in starting in June(that when I get my Calarts Sketchbook back)

So please if you can help in any way, I would be truly grateful! 

Thank you for reading