Jonathan Curtiss
11th Grade

Bishop Montgomery High School
Los Angeles, CA

Who doesn't remember the childhood game of musical chairs? Jonathan Curtiss certainly does as he and his friends begin to wonder where they'll be headed for school. "The college admissions process is becoming more and more like a game of musical chairs...I want to succeed," this young filmmaker exclaims as he describes just one of the many challenges of the college going process. This young man has quite a bit to offer these institutions of higher learning.

Jonathan hopes to follow in the footsteps of his grandparents and his father, all of whom worked hard to achieve a college degree. In high school he's already determined that he likes learning things that are relevant to real-life knowledge he can use that will be valuable in the future. It seems he's already begun that journey through experiential learning in field of business.

Jonathan is working for the family owned "Word of Life Bookstore," started in 1961 by his grandparents, Joe and Evelyn Curtiss. 47 years later this future college student hopes to get a degree in Business and Marketing so he can gain "the knowledge and skills to help [the business] grow," in addition to pursuing his love of screenwriting. Jonathan sees the bookstore as a lighthouse to the community – it's a small, independently owned, family business providing Christian books to the African American community. Jonathan’s commitment to always doing his best will be an asset to this future business leader/screen writer as he hopes to pursue his bachelor's degree at Howard University.