There’s nothing like jamming to Camila Cabello’s Havana to get your morning started, especially as I started my dreaded cardio workout. As I was huffing and puffing in between her sultry notes, my mind drifted off to Havana and I started imagining what juicy adventures Camila was singing about in her song.
Havana, ooh na-na
Camila Cabello, Lyrics in Havana
Half of my heart is in Havana, ooh-na-na
He took me back to East Atlanta, na-na-na
Oh, but my heart is in Havana
There’s somethin’ ’bout his manners Havana, ooh na-na
As I finished up my workout and recovering from my passionate Cuban daydreams, I became extremely curious about the origins of this song and Camila’s story. So off I went on google until I found a short documentary about Camila on YouTube and what I found completely blew me away.
Camila has an incredibly rich upbringing. Not only did she come from an immigrant family with roots in Cuba and Mexico, but she was also brought up by courageous parents that sacrificed everything to give her a better life. Camila’s childhood was also filled with a wealth of music and singing – one of the greatest expressions of her heritage and culture. Camila was a gold mine of stories to write about.
In much of the same way in which I can’t resist swaying along to Camila’s voice as she hums to Havana, I can’t resist exploring how her immigrant story could be written into the format of a scholarship essay so this is exactly what today’s blog will cover. This should also come in handy for anyone the comes from an immigrant background (like me) that is interested in incorporating their story into a scholarship essay.
DISCLAIMER: I based the majority of this hypothetical scholarship on research I conducted on Camila’s life. But since I wasn’t able to directly interview Camila (maybe one day I will though!), I don’t know how accurate everything is. So take everything for a grain of salt! I am only writing this for educational purposes.
Suggested Essay Outline
Before I dive in to share my tips on how to write this scholarship essay, I would advise Camila Cabello (and anyone else that would like to incorporate their immigrant story into their essay) to use this outline to structure your essay. I don’t have enough time to go through each section individually to explain how you should write them, but this outline should help guide you through the writing process.
Section #1: Introduce All Themes
Start your story with a bang! Find a way to grab the attention of the reader while artfully introducing all the themes including Camila’s cultural identity and her relationship with singing. But try to do this as concisely as possible. You don’t want your introduction to eat up a big portion of your allocated word limit. Here is a brief example of an opening that she could use:
Section #2: Explain the Obstacles that She Has Faced
One of the best ways to explore the role that Camila’s cultural heritage played in her life is to examine it through the lenses of a challenge or difficult time that she faced. In Camila’s case, I think she should write about the struggle she went through as she decided to walk away from her established place in Fifth Harmony and to venture into the unknown as a solo artist.
Section #3: Reveal how Camila Chose to Deal with Her Challenge
Section #3 is arguably the most important paragraph in the entire essay. Use this paragraph to show how Camila’s heritage and relationship with music ultimately helped her overcome one of her biggest challenges. Here is an example:
Section #4: Show How Camila’s Life Changed After She Faced the Challenge
Now in the last paragraph, you have three things you need to do:
- Briefly explain what happened to after you faced your challenge
- Reiterate the themes of your essay one last time
- Leave the audience with one lasting message
And there you have it! Here’s a few tips from Camila Cabello’s story about how to incorporate an immigration story into your scholarship essay.
If you have any other scholarship questions or have another celebrity that you’ll like me to write about, MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE A COMMENT!
See you next time!
Sources:
Camila Cabello at MTV VMA 2018 by Nicole Alexander is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
Camila Cabello accepts ‘Best Artist’ award at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2018 by MTV International is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
Camila Cabello in an interview for MTV UK on 7 December 2017 by MTV UK is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
“Camila Cabello – OMG (ft. Quavo)” by Alef Alencar is marked under CC PDM 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
“Camila Cabello” by rocor is licensed with CC BY-NC 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
“Camila Cabello” by rocor is licensed with CC BY-NC 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
“Camila Cabello” by rocor is licensed with CC BY-NC 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
