From the Nominator

"Titans are given access to tools, opportunities, and support to discover their passions and convictions; develop into leaders; thrive and impact the world around them; and own their pursuit of outstanding achievement.  

They are empowered to achieve greatness.  

Our “Empowering Titans” video is a powerful message of one young woman’s empowerment journey toward a college degree. Her first-gen story is told in under two minutes and captures the essence of our mission.  

Our digital media team produced the video, not some slick ad agency. Our team took a personal education journey and showed how the university and our campus community support our students from that awkward first year where they have no friends to achieving their aspirational goal of a college degree.  

We selected students who are also on their educational journeys, including several who are first-gen. The video, which did not use professional actors, is cinematic and uses the device of a single small story to tell a much larger story.  

We set out to show how a single person we meet in our lives or a singular event changes us forever.   

We succeeded, and from this effort, we adopted “Empower Yourself, Empower Others.” The tagline has lived on and inspires our creative team as we develop more content showing how dreams can come true."

From the Judges

The judges were deeply moved by the tear-jerking content, which resonated on an emotional level with the viewers. The powerful narrative struck a chord, eliciting a strong and heartfelt response from the audience. The judges recognized the ability to evoke genuine emotions and create a profound impact.