Many know Customized Girl as a print on demand apparel and accessory company that specializes in trendy designs. While we may have started out selling custom t-shirts, we’ve evolved into a community of statement makers. It is empowering to make a custom shirt and to wear that statement across your chest. For the last four years, Customized Girl has offered a statement maker scholarship to help students accomplish their collegiate goals. This year we mixed things up a bit with our scholarship. Instead of one statement maker receiving $2500, we selected five influential candidates who would each receive $500 towards their education costs.
We are not only honored to announce these powerful young adults but also ecstatic to share their lives with all of you. Customized Girl asked all winners three questions:
1.) Describe yourself in three words?
2.) What is your ideal career path?
3.) Why is this statement important to you?
Without further ado, meet Customized Girl’s statement makers for 2016!
Chanyell Anderson
Statement: If you want something you’ve never had, do something you’ve never done.
1.) I would happily describe myself as determined, loyal, and punctual. These three things are very important qualities to me so I try very hard to always emulate them. I think it’s important that everyone have a goal and be very determined and unmoving when it comes to reaching those goals. My punctuality is one of the things I take pride in. It makes me physically ill to even think about being late! Loyalty is something I appreciate in others and so I can give them no less.
2.) Well, I am already living part of my dream. I am a teacher. Right now, my career path includes going back to school for another degree so I can get a job as an instructional specialist within my school district. This would enable me to teach more kids and help more teachers. I will also be able to work as a curriculum writer for my district. This degree will open up many doors for me that are closed right now. I look forward to what the future holds!
3.) Well, there are a lot of things I would like to change about my life, simply because I find that I’m not satisfied with where I am right now. To me, if I want change to happen, then I have to do things I’ve never done (such as moving to a different city and going back to school) or I’ll never achieve what I want in life. It’s scary for me but it’s necessary if I want better things for myself.
Taylor Martz
Statement: Broken crayons still color
1.) Devoted, Sociable, Creative
2.) My ideal career path after I finish my Masters degree would be to work in the marketing communications field to establish myself. In a few years, I would love to return to the realm of academia and become a professor in the department of communications! I am currently teaching an undergraduate course for freshman, and have loved every minute- so I feel as if this could be a great calling later on in my career.
3.) “Broken crayons still color” has been a guiding mantra in my personal life. I’ve battled my way through numerous ‘storms’ and, sometimes, I have felt as if the rain wasn’t ever going to stop and sunshine was a thing of the past. However, I’ve never failed to let the waves break my bow. I truly believe that when we come out on the other side of our storms and stand to face the sunshine, we can turn around and see where the sun was the whole time. Even through dark clouds, the sun is still present.
Storms may bend us or try to break us, but they’re bleak in comparison to the bright sunshine on the other side. I try to search for the positive in each day, no matter how crummy. Being able to find the good within the bad has helped me realize my true potential in all situations, not just the successful ones. Just because we feel broken during hard times does not mean we’ve failed to make an impact on the lives of others during the process. Something as simple as your smile to the stranger in the grocery store, holding the door open for a mother with full hands, or offering up your seat on the bus can turn another’s day around. In the midst of brokenness, we’re still adding color and touching the lives of others– so instead of falling victim to the hurt, we can use our inner light to help guide our way through current and future storms.
Nicole Davidson
Statement: Trust your passion to outshine your fears
1.) I would describe myself as positive, genuine, and determined. I try my best to live everyday focused on my goals while being the best person I can be.
2.) I am currently a graduate student at West Chester University in Pennsylvania studying Higher Education Counseling and Student Affairs. I’m pursuing a career in higher education because I have a personal goal to help others and make a difference in a life wherever I can. I am an advocate for advanced learning for anyone who has the opportunity to pursue it. This field will allow me to work in an environment that opens me up to enriching experiences while providing opportunities for students to evolve and make an impact in the world around them. Universities help students find their passions in the world, without my college experience I would have never discovered my own. Throughout my career, if I can assist one individual, I’ve made a difference in someone’s life and that is important to me.
3.) “Trust your passion to outshine your fears.” This statement is important to me because it is so relevant in my life and what I see in the lives of many young individuals around me. As we transition from young individuals to adults, we all have goals and things we want to achieve. Sometimes I find myself hesitant or afraid for the possibility of difficulty or failure. But it is important to remember, if you are passionate about what you do or what you want to achieve, then no one can stop you from your version of success. You will always have fears or doubts but that should never keep you from pursing your dreams. Passion is enthusiasm, fascination, and obsession. There will always be challenges but never let a fear stand in the way of something you feel called to do.
Brianda Barrera Olvera
Statement: Let success be measured by your happiness, not the other way around
1.) Organized, passionate, planner
2.) My ideal career path is to work in public relations for an agribusiness. I am fascinated by the importance of agriculture as well as public speaking and writing. The public relations department of an agribusiness just seems like the most ideal place for me to work.
3.) This statement is important to be because I spent most of my high school junior year struggling what I wanted to do with my life. I had convinced myself to become a dentist but I began to lean towards a career in agriculture. When others heard of this, including my family, they began to tell me that a career in dentistry was the most successful thing to do and that I wouldn’t find much success in agricultural communications. Their thoughts almost became my thoughts but I had to remind myself that I defined my own success. I decided that whichever career would make me the happiest is the career I would be most successful in.
Jordyn Geenty
Statement: You can’t live in the past, but it is okay to look back at it and smile
1.) I would describe myself as determined, crafty, and loyal
2.) My ideal career path is education. I think that teaching is very important because it is the only profession that creates all other professions. I am enrolled in classes now working toward my teaching degree and I am excited to have my own classroom in just a few years. I have been in a number of classrooms helping out and my favorite so far have been 3rd-5th grade so that is where I am hoping to get placed when I finish college.
3.) This statement is important to me because I love to think about great memories I’ve had but I would then become stuck in those times until I realized that it’s okay to remember the past but I cannot live in it because I would never be able to create new memories that I can also look back on and smile.
Thanks again to everyone who entered our scholarship contest. We already cannot wait for next year’s entries and to hear all of your amazing and innovative statements. No need to worry if you missed out for Customized Girl’s scholarship in 2016. We host our scholarship annually before the start of every school so make sure to stay tuned with all things Customized Girl!