Trevor Coopersmith  Urban Art Scholarship

I’m Ethan Harrer, and I've been a videographer for about 10 years. Starting with my tablet I had got for Christmas, I instantly began doing YouTube videos on what many 11 year
olds find interesting: comic books, claw machines, and video games. As I grew older, I began making short films and other novel ideas, which in turn bloomed my passion in going to school
for digital media. And although I still have a raging desire to become an influential and contributing artist in my field, it hasn’t always been that way.

When I was 10 years old, my parents separated, and I lived with my grandparents
shortly after we left the house I was raised in. I moved schools, made new friends, and had to
start growing up early. My relationship with both my Mom and Dad became strained, as they
both had their visible problems arise (some of them projected and preached towards me). I was
admitted to pediatric care a year later, which stemmed from the stress and knowledge of their
eventual divorce.

After healing from that situation, I continued with middle and High School, and kept my
mental health story in the past. I didn’t tell anyone about it, and moved on.

My calling in my work in art and media came from my Freshman year of High School. After the shooting in Florida, my middle school had a scare of its own in a similar fashion. Local schools had mental health cases soar to an all time high, suicides happening weekly at one point. It was a pool composed of a pained generation, and I was swimming in it with everyone else. My passion for media and film slowly faded away, and I took little interest in any hobbies.To make matters worse, family issues were becoming a strain. I was a therapist to people in my family, which made me feel that I needed to fix them. Because I couldn’t, the lack of control made me feel inadequate, and eventually led me to a depression that resulted in a near attempt to take my own life.
I was then put into pediatrics a second time, underwent counseling, and healed into a
stronger person throughout 2019. When I became a man open to solitude, it brought back my
tested-and-true passion of making videos and media.

Now, I mix both video and mental health to tell my story, inspire others, and to represent
companies in events. I made a video for my school on See Something, Say Something, a
mental health event by Sandy hook Promise. I talked with my Mayor on the issues our new
generation faces from a mental standpoint, and worked with Truth Initiative, a progressive youth
anti-vape and tobacco company, to talk with decision makers on Capitol Hill on nicotine policy.

I don’t want to deny my potential to lead and influence, as I know vigorous effort can make a
better world. I’m currently in community college to finish prerequisites for a digital media degree,
and The Trevor Coopersmith Scholarship will help me come closer towards making projects for
a better world, all without the student debt that clouds over the dreams and ambitions of other
world changing people.