Morris Bart, LLC, is thrilled to announce that Aaliyah Young has won the firm’s 2023 Anti-Distracted Driving Scholarship. The firm is set to award Young $2,500, which she can use to advance her education at Arizona State University (ASU).
Morris Bart, LLC encourages students applying for the Anti-Distracted Driving Scholarship to think critically about the impact that cell phones, food, and excessive stimuli can have on a person’s ability to safely navigate the road. Young stood out from the crowd with her animated PSA on the dangers of driving without paying attention to one’s surroundings.
Critical Thinking in Young’s PSA Script
Young’s anti-distracted driving PSA begins with a skillfully animated narrator leading a discussion about distracted driving fatalities. Young goes on to animate two young people distracted at the wheel of a car as she describes the dangerous accidents that can stem from a driver’s simple or thoughtless negligence.
The 54-second video highlights not only cell phones as a form of roadway distraction but also makeup application, enthusiastic conversation, and inexperience behind the wheel. Young uses live-action footage and filters in addition to her animations to minimize the graphic nature of distracted driving’s risks without excluding them from her PSA.
Finally, there are references in Young’s style of speech and presentation of facts that make her PSA reminiscent of the 1944 Smokey Bear’s anti-fire campaign. Her video’s tagline depicts her narrator saying, “[o]nly you have the power to save lives,” in the vein of Smokey Bear’s “only you can prevent forest fires.”
This invocation of historical PSAs, combined with Young’s unique approach to the problem of modern-day distracted driving, helped her PSA stand out from other applicants.
A PSA Inspired By the Old Masters
Young reports that she took up to three weeks to hand-draw the animated elements that appear in her videos. When paired with the PSA’s live-action footage, these animations draw the eye and keep audiences engaged with Young’s script.
Young cites animator James Baxter and manga artist Hirohiko Araki as her primary artistic inspirations. James Baxter is perhaps best known for his work on many Disney animated features, while Hirohiko Araki is known around the world for his manga, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
Both Western and Eastern animation influences appear in Young’s work; moreover, she pioneers her own style. Young mentions that her other inspiration in life is Zendaya, as the singer and actress’s confidence has pushed Young to embrace her own style and explore unique opportunities throughout her life.
Young’s Video Embodies Her Goals for the Future
Young is currently pursuing a degree in Graphic Design. In her post-award interview, she told Morris Bart, LLC representatives that upon her predicted graduation in 2025, she wants to open a graphic design studio and continue to grow her experience.
This goal is evident in her PSA, as the artwork and video editing experience seen therein serve as primary examples of her creativity and dedication to her craft. Graphic design, like Young’s, is what draws an audience to a piece of content. It helps convey a message and encourages viewers to revisit and/or explore a business’s additional services.
Morris Bart, LLC wishes Young the best of luck in the pursuit of both her degree and her career ambitions. Based on the expert combination of live-action video and animated features, the firm has no doubt that Young will achieve the dreams that she puts her mind to.
Morris Bart, LLC Continues to Offer Support to In-Need Community Members
Morris Bart, LLC has long striven to serve as a pillar within the communities it services. In offering its Anti-Distracted Driving Scholarship, the firm tries to both encourage critical thought about roadway safety and help ambitious students pursue their academic ambitions.
In Young’s case, this help could not have come at a better time. Young is in the process of transferring from Scottsdale Community College, Rio Salado, to ASU. In her scholarship interview, she describes this award’s $2,500 in support as a boon to her and her family.
“With the aid of this scholarship, I will be able to finish college and pursue my degree,” she says. At present, Young divides her time between her academic career and her part-time job, though she makes an effort to continue developing her artistic talents. Morris Bart, LLC is delighted to ease some of her stress as she begins her career at ASU.
About the Anti-Distracted Driving Scholarship
Morris Bart, LLC offered its Anti-Distracted Driving Scholarship on an annual basis for the last three years. This scholarship promises $2,500 to the student who submits a stand-out PSA discussing the increasingly-dangerous practice of driving distracted. However, Morris Bart, LLC didn’t want students to write an essay on the dangers of distracted driving.
Instead, the firm requested that students interested in the Anti-Distracted Driving Scholarship submit video essays of no more than 90 seconds when applying for the firm’s scholarship. This request serves a four-fold purpose.
In some cases, it requires students to learn new video and audio editing techniques. It also demands that students learn to present information through a medium with which they may not be familiar. A third benefit of this requirement would be that the scholarship highlights each applicant’s creativity. Most importantly, however, a video PSA is a more effective method to get the attention of drivers (while they aren’t driving, of course!).
Morris Bart, LLC, is Celebrating Students’ Successes
Morris Bart, LLC is happy to list Aaliyah Young among its previous Anti-Distracted Driving Scholarship winners, Jessie Morgan and Maranda Teutsch. The firm is already considering reopening scholarship applications in the fall semester of the 2023/2024 academic year.
Students interested in submitting video essays can visit the scholarship’s terms and conditions for more information about the scholarship’s requirements. Interested parties can also consider applying for Morris Bart, LLC’s Community Service Scholarship.
The firm again congratulates Aaliyah Young for her beautifully animated PSA and wishes her the best of luck into the next academic year.
