Accepted - Update

Hey everyone (or Mr. Webb and Nikki, who I'm pretty sure are the only ones sticking with my posts)!
Tomorrow I'll be on a fieldtrip to the College of Southern Maryland for their Communications Day, and I can't wait to hear everyone talking about their pursuits and how they got to where they wanted to be. I hope to use both my fieldtrip and the week at Mason to piece together a goal for my dream job, and I'll be sure to utilize all the skills that I've picked up along the way.

At the moment I am set on pursuing film as a career, whether I be an editor, producer or even the director.

I know I've said it a lot, but truly, without my family I never would have been able to make it to this conference, and I can't thank them enough for helping out when I needed them. They've always stood by and supported me, and I'm glad everyday that I have them to call my own. I also have to thank my teachers and everyone at school who's been congradulating me ever since my principal announced my selection a few days ago :)

I know the length between posts has been kind of sketchy, so in the coming weeks I'll be trying out some new formats and probably submitting shorter posts on a more frequent basis to keep everyone up on my journey to the conference.

Thanks for reading!
Leena

So Close!

Once again, I've neglected to keep this as updated as I once did, and I apologize. However, I have some great news.

I'm getting closer to having the tuition for the conference. While I'm not sure of the exact numbers, its very close. I'm very fortunate to have such a supportive family that was willing to help me out even when my own community either neglected or was not able to. I plan to have all of my payment in on the 15th of March, fully registering me and guaranteeing my spot as a National Youth Correspondent representing both my school and the state of Maryland.

One of my newest ideas was for a fundraiser, something that I hope will be a success so that there won't be so much stress on my family to come up with the rest of the tuition. I recently learned that the local bowling alley does fundraising events for interested parties, and if I were to get about 24 people to participate on the same night for my cause, I would raise enough to not only pay for the rest of my tuition, but set aside money for anything else as well.

This spring I plan to revamp my wardrobe for the conference (that means actual skirts and blouses - so professional!), and I'm very excited to have the opportunity. Every day it gets closer and closer to the summer, and I honestly am counting down the days until my drop-off at George Mason.

136 days. In four months and some change, I'll be standing in the halls of George Mason as a rising senior, a girl representing a small town in Southern Maryland among 249 other students. The thought itself is surreal. Just to think that this is an opportunity for me to not only shine, but to have contacts for the future - it almost seems like the time should go by faster just so I can wake up tomorrow and start packing.

This is definitely going to be the greatest week ever. I can't wait!

Thanks as always for reading,
Leena

Account Issues and Donations

Though I am still aware that I only have one dedicated follower (thank you Nikki!!), for anyone else reading as well, sorry for the lack of updates. To be honest, there's not much to tell at the moment except for the small problem I seem to have run into today that might end up being bigger than I'd like it to be.

I technically registered for the conference twice, because I was worried that my results were not counted the first time due to my own computer's fault. In doing so, I recieved two letters detailing my acceptance into the conference, both with different deadlines for accepting my nomination.

If things are going the way they're supposed to be, I would already be on my way to registration. However, in an attempt to relocate my VIP page and check for any important announcements that I could possibly miss, I tried to log in to the website presented to me, and nothing. Knowing that I entered both my correct user and password into the system, it worried me even more when I attempted to change my password and told that no email or username existed for the account I was trying to fix.

I really and truly hope that no mishap ends up messing with the conference this summer, as I would like to secure my spot and tuition immeditely upon the registration opening.

As far as business sponsors, I have yet to recieve any kind of correspondence, save for the letter returned to me from the Womens' Association that was apparently listed under the wrong address. I haven't lost hope, but I can say that I am disappointed. Even if these places were unable to help me with a monetary donation, I would rather be told so than forever waiting on a reply that may never come.

Crash

No one ever wants to see their beloved computer eaten up by an evil nasty virus. However, that was exactly the way I rang in my new year, with a newly restored laptop that I had come to depend on almost exclusively for document retention. My poor stories, saved only by the fact that I'd copied most of them onto my trusty flashdrive.

As for fundraising, the thing is that I know the corporations I have actually sent letters to have recieved them. According to the Post Office, they would have arrived at their destinations by the 14th of December. It's the third day of January, though after the holiday break, I admit that it's also the first day of getting mail. Still though, the 14th?

After walking to my mailbox every day with a look of expectation, I'm not as disappointed to see that the only mail addressed to me comes from colleges. I do hope that these businesses are able to sponsor me - truly. It would mean so much stress being lifted from my family. So I will be patient, and continue to wait while I gather another list of potential sponsors. I hope to get in contact with more by this weekend, and so far am very glad to still have a solid opportunity like this.

Saying that I know I'll be going to George Mason this summer makes my classes so much more tolerable, knowing that all the hard work I'm putting in is paying off in the best way.

Welcome back to work/school,
Leena

Coming to a screen near you!

VIDEOS!

I made about three today, not counting the random clips that I plan to use once I get my head around this Movie Maker stuff that I have discovered I have. I am in the process of collecting tips on YouTube video popularity, and one such video gave me this general idea:

To make it on YouTube, you've gotta be a girl. I was not aware of this, but maybe there's some truth to it. As for dressing up specifically for the camera, I personally have decided it's a no-go. You will probably be seeing me in whatever I decided to wear to school that day. I might be cute, but bum-day is a usual for me, especially when it's as cold as its usually been outside. The only thing that's not 100% legit is the fact that I don't wear my glasses during my videos, because my webcam is evil and produces a really fugly glare.

This guy also said to be as random as possible, make your videos long (the very next video I watched said under 3 minutes, oops.) and make one everyday. You know what? I'm going to try that.

Not only am I shooting for 5 videos a week, I'm also going to vary their content. One day we might be chatting in my room, and the next I'll take you guys on a walk around the block. Maybe elsewhere? This is for a journalism and media conference, so I figure that I should be well-versed in keeping things fresh for the audience.

Tomorrow is going to be more than a little busy what with me going shopping for X-Mas pictures and such, as well as finding time to study for an AP test I JUST found out about, but I will work in some time for video editing and hopefully 2-3 posts by Wednesday night.

I love you guys already, even though I am aware of the fact that only my aunt is following this blog at the moment. I appreciate you Nikki, and yes, I am going to bed now!

Thanks,
Leena

Letters, Letters, Letters Everywhere!

Today is the day, even though it's almost 11pm and I'm wide awake.

Today, I wrote and prepared my letters. Being a resident of "Chuck County", a little more than half of them aren't going any farther than La Plata or Waldorf. But I am also sending my little packets out to the lands of NYC and Tennessee, just to see if I will have any luck with finding sponsors.

So far, I have contacted the following people/businesses:

• American Legion
• Steve Harvey
• Tom Joyner
• Elk's Lodge
• Charles County Woman's Club (Until last year, I wasn't even aware that we had one)
• Ken Dixon Automotives
• Board of Ed
• NBC News/Studios
• WUSA 9
• Kane of Hot 99.5 FM Radio
• The Maryland Independent
• Fox 5
• The Washington Post
• Dollar General
• Safeway
• Shoppers Food & Pharmacy
• Hot Topic Inc.

I also plan on doing some research in regards to retail stores, and possibly some local restaurants. Tomorrow I will be taking a trip to the post office to drop off the 10 letters that I currently have ready to go, and I will be also trying to figure out how to complete my Master's Research project in Photography that's either going to require me having access to some rowhouses or interesting looking subjects.

Looks like it's going to be a busy day, but I can't wait to get started!

Quick Update

Hello,

So far, I've discovered that this blog thing is harder than I thought it would be. See, this isn't my first time starting one. In fact, I've had about 2 already - I just didn't expect anyone to read them. With this one though, the intent was to connect with others and possibly get the attention of future sponsors. I did contemplate deleting my latest and first video, and am still debating it right now.

The thing is...I could. But if I decide to go "Forget it, it doesn't matter", what am I learning? The whole reason I wanted to attend this conference is to learn something and get to the point where I can make business contacts after I graduate from college.

This blog isn't amazing or anything, but it is in its early stages, and I'm sure that even the more popular ones weren't the best from their first posts. My videos will eventually get better, even if I've discovered that my webcam has a pretty poor quality when it comes down to it. I do take part of the blame but again, I'm pretty nervous knowing that someone will be able to watch them pretty soon.

As far as where I'm at now, I am very close to securing all of the money for my tuition for the conference.

I'd like to thank my parents, my grandma as well as all of my aunts and uncles who have donated way more than I ever expected.
Today I'm making efforts to get letters to not only corporations but local businesses and even my school board. Not everyone is answering my calls, but hopefully having a solid letter in front of them will inspire something. Before I jump into my homework for the day, I'll be looking up addresses and printing out cover letters in order to have these things out by the weekend.

Still working on things,
Leena