Our core values – partnership, clarity, authenticity, and inventiveness – show up everywhere we do.
Our Annual Illustrating Awesomeness Scholarship is no exception! We’ve been looking forward to introducing you to this year’s fantstic receipients: incredible young people working hard to exemplify these values everywhere they show up, too.
Every year since 2017, our animation studio has awarded scholarships to inspiring undergraduate students who are women or gender nonconforming people of color.
Our values as a studio help us select scholarship recipients who illustrate awesomeness – although, it’s never easy. In fact, it’s one of the hardest projects we tackle all year.
This year, we were thrilled to award four scholarships for the 2024 Spring Semester. We were inspired by the burgeoning ideas and genuine compassion evident in the stories shared by each applicant, and we thank everyone who applied.
Our winners demonstrate exceptional clarity, inventiveness, partnership, and authenticity. Without further ado, meet a few of our 2023 Illustrating Awesomeness Scholarship Recipients:
Samantha Gove
Samantha Gove (she/her) is a proud citizen of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and a senior Human Rights and Sociology double major with minors in Political Science and Psychological Sciences at the University of Connecticut. As the Student Coordinator of UConn’s Native American Cultural Programs and President of UConn’s Native American and Indigenous Students Association, she has worked hard to increase representation and resources for Native and Indigenous students as a mentor and an advocate. After graduation, Samantha intends to work for a year before attending law school.
Keerthana Ramachandran
I am Keerthana and I am from India. I am a traditional Kerala Mural artist and a student at the University of Pittsburgh. I am majoring in psychology. My goal is to become a clinical psychologist to provide easy to access and affordable mental health treatment to people who cannot afford and access help. Fun fact about me, I can speak 5 languages.
Leticia Madrid
My name is Leticia Madrid and I am studying nursing at Salt Lake Community College. I am a proud Latinx and passionate about providing quality healthcare to underserved populations, especially the Latinx and LGBTQ communities. I'm interested in many different avenues of nursing including research, nursing education, and nurse anesthesia. I don't know yet where my studies will lead me, but this scholarship is such a wonderful stepping stone to help me along the way.
Our heartfelt congratulations and support goes out to every student who took the time to apply. Each story we received was read and appreciated by our Scholarship Committee, and left us excited for the future you all will build with your plans to change the world.
Learn more about the Illustrating Awesomeness Scholarship here.
