What started out as a way to help pay for college has turned into a successful YouTube channel for broadcast journalism junior Carlynn Greene. Since December of her senior year in high school, Carlynn has received 20 scholarships, with about 11 going toward her financial aid.
After seeing her mother’s reaction to a $4,500 offer from Methodist Charlton Medical Center in Dallas, Carlynn decided to start her YouTube channel, ESP Daniella, in 2017.
“I might as well make a YouTube channel about this and not only help those who need the scholarships, but also the families who need that scholarship money to help with their children,” Carlynn said.
Her channel has three scholarship-related videos about how to get scholarships, write the essays and tips for potential scholarship interviews — all of which have aided people inside and outside the U.S., including India, Australia and a few African and Asian countries. The collective number of views of all three videos is around 105,000.
Aristide Kambale, a third-year student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, won a full-ride scholarship using the tips from one of Carlynn’s videos.
“I got an email message,” Kambale said. “I thought, ‘This is surprising.’ I thought it was a joke, but when I went through my application, I was like, ‘Oh, so this is real.’ I’m definitely grateful.”
Students have also gotten direct help from Carlynn through her consultation service where she gives personalized advice and helps edit essays. Nia Marshall, a chemistry junior at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, won a $10,000 scholarship from the State Employees’ Credit Union Foundation through this service.
“I was happy because I went through a lot,” Marshall said. “I put so much passion into it, so I was ecstatic. I honestly thought I wasn’t going to win. I was really happy with the essay too, I like the way it’s written, and I’m helping my friend with hers.”
Over the course of applying for scholarships and creating her YouTube channel, Carlynn’s had her family’s support.
“I admire her motivation, determination and organization,” said Venica Greene, Carlynn’s mother and a De Soto resident. “I stop to look at her videos and I see the detail and thought process of why she does things a certain way, and even the way she has all her folders organized when she is applying.”
Carlynn’s process for applying includes making a spreadsheet with all the scholarships she wishes to apply for and information such as the deadline and time zone of that scholarship. She has thought of and written out a formula for the secret to writing strong essays and making sure an application looks good for the scholarship committee.
“One of the elements in your essay is that you have to sound humble,” Carlynn said. “You don’t want to say, ‘I deserve this scholarship because…’ You have to indirectly say that you deserve it because if you say it directly, [the committee] will think ‘Oh, this person is too straightforward about it.’ In your essay, you should say something about your trials to your triumphs, of where you’ve faced something that was very hard in your life and you’re trying to go through it and how you grew as a person.”
Between receiving scholarships and growing her channel, Carlynn has gained opportunities that go beyond financial aid.
“One of the opportunities is being employed in my current job here as an R.A at Maple Hall,” Carlynn said. “[Another opportunity is] my other job as a student assistant for the communication studies department, which is upstairs from the Mayborn. When I was interviewing for both these jobs, I told them about my YouTube channel. I think that was one of the deciding factors as to why they hired me.”
She has also grown not only in video editing, but as a person and leader.
“She had a [time] period where she was very shy and not very outgoing,” Venica said. “It’s really helped her with her communication skills because when you see her on camera, she’s very eloquent and speaks very well and she’s able to show her personality more.”
Carlynn’s channel has proven to be beneficial and inspirational for students worldwide.
“The initiative of creating a channel, or any platform that can help other people get opportunities, is a very wonderful one,” Kambale said. “By all means, if I had the opportunity to support the channel to keep on existing and doing more, I would do that. If anyone would like to support the channel, I really encourage that to happen.”
Carlynn said she is able to see the impact her YouTube channel has through her video comments and emails.
“I get emotional,” Carlynn said. “I remember [Kambale] emailed me saying, ‘Thanks to your video, I was able to receive a full-ride scholarship.’ I had just woken up and I looked at my emails, and when I saw his email, I was bawling tears for a good 10 minutes. It was crazy to think that my advice, that I recorded in my mother’s room, was reaching people internationally who needed it.”
At 6p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, Carlynn is hosting an event where she will share what she calls the “scholarship algorithm” with a presentation and a question and answer portion. It takes place in the living room of Maple Hall and pizza, snacks and drinks will be provided.
Featured Image: Junior Carlynn Greene poses in her dorm on Jan. 31, 2020. Greene creates YouTube videos that help students receive scholarships. Image by Quincy Palmer
Article Originally Published by on North Texas Daily
Source: North Texas Daily