MINERVA INSTITUTE | VISIONARY FUTURES
The Minerva Institute for Research and Scholarship was established to support brilliant, deserving scholars everywhere. Despite dramatically reduced tuition costs to attend Minerva Schools, more than 80% of students in the graduating class of 2019 required some form of aid to attend. Minerva students come from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. The student body is not only geographically diverse in origin, but their personal stories that have led them to Minerva are equally diverse. This is the story of three of these students.
Runtime: 04:52
CREDITS
Director: Andrew Hida
Cinematography: Jessey Dearing, Andrew Hida
Editors: Jessey Dearing, Andrew Hida
Composer: Jim Greer
Featured Students: Coby Anderson, Dorotea Deshishku, Fabiola Kabera
Client Side Producer: Jules Shell
Client: Minerva Institute for Research and Scholarship
Services Provided: Director, Production, Editing, Cinematography
Publication Date: February 24, 2016
BACKGROUND
The non-profit Minerva Institute for Research and Scholarship supports qualified students to pursue educations at Minerva Schools through the administration of scholarships. The institute also facilitates and advocates for reform in higher education. Even with tuition costs at a fraction that of peer academic institutions, there is a tremendous worldwide need for financial support to attend. Minerva does not participate in the Federal student loan program and has instead developed an innovative financial assistance model that not only provides financial assistance through scholarships, but also provides real-world work experience as a component of the aid package.
BRIEF
The goal for this project was to not only highlight the unique model of financial assistance developed by Minerva, but also to place a face on the students that receive this support. The film is intended to be used as a tool to engage the support of philanthropists and inspire them to continue to donate and fund the work of the Minerva Institute in providing equal access to to quality education.
RESULT
Directed and produced by Hida Visuals Inc, Visionary Futures is a short film about three students’ experiences that have ignited their passions and inspired their trajectories in academics. These personal stories are just a sliver of the diverse, wide-reaching and common stories of need that resonate throughout the entire student body. We wanted to humanize the need and build a relationship between these deserving students and the philanthropists who will directly support them.
Shot in the cinematic documentary style that has come to define the Minerva brand, this film steps into the private side of these students' lives, resulting in a heart-felt and inspiring story.