Dear San Luis Obispo International Film Festival Board of Directors,

I would like to thank you very much for your incredible generosity in bestowing the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival Scholarship upon me. It is very difficult to find the most appropriate words to thank each and every one of you for this scholarship, so please forgive me if I repeat the phrase �ethank you�f several places in this letter. I would like to thank you especially on my behalf but also on behalf of all the people who have and will receive this scholarship before and after me. The study of film and filmmaking, while increasingly accepted, can still be a very difficult avenue to pursue. It is through the generosity of people such as yourselves that so many of us are able to continue to grow in this field of study and hopefully within the profession itself.

I would like to give you some background information on myself. Ever since I was very young I�fve known that I wanted to be involved in film. I grew up in a community where film was not a career that was supported. Film was seen more as a hobby than anything else but with the continued support of my family, and my parents in particular I was able to go to undergraduate University at NYU and study screenwriting. I always thought that writing was where my heart lay, and it was something that I greatly enjoyed. However, I soon found that my greatest joy, and arguably my greatest strength was in reading scripts and analyzing them with a mind to where they could be cut down and where we, the proverbial audience, need more information. After my graduation from NYU I decided that my interest in film would be better suited to editing. That is why I applied to the American Film Institute, where I have been lucky enough to study under some of the most talented people working in the industry. Under their instruction I feel like I have been able and will continue to grow as an Editor. However, I feel that one of the most important aspects of the education at AFI is the ability to form close working relationships with the other Fellows. Without the kind of assistance that scholarships like this one can provide, I would not have met most of the people who I work with now and will hopefully continue to work with in the future. That, more than anything, is something I will always be grateful for. I remember the first time that I realized that film was a medium I wanted to work in, when I looked out at an audience reaction to a film that I had worked on and realized that, even in some small way, I had been a part of what caused their enjoyment. With the support of my family and this scholarship, that dream is becoming a reality. Thank you.