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Agnes Scott College’s Lydia Holland Named 2023 Georgia Power Rising Star Student Scholar

Monday, December 4th, 2023

Lydia Holland ’25, a standout student and Film and Visual Media studies major planning to graduate in 2025, has been selected as a 2023 Business of Entertainment Georgia Power Rising Star Student Scholarship recipient. The scholarship is offered as a partnership between Georgia Power and the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Each year, a student is awarded $5,000 to help fund further education and pursue a career in the film industry. Students are recognized by an instructor or staff member who nominates a candidate by submitting a narrative of 500 words or less speaking to why they are deserving of the award.  

Lydia, who calls Johnson City, Tennessee home, will use the scholarship to further her education and passion for creating independent projects and student-driven film production programs. A top-ranked student in the Agnes Scott Film and Media Studies Program, her progress through the curriculum has been stellar as she has maintained a scholarly record that is peerless. She has also excelled in a wide range of film courses: Film History, Film and Fashion, History on Film, Black Horror Cinema, Screenwriting, King Arthur in Literature and Film, Queer Shakespeare Cinema, Digital Processes, and Advanced Digital Processes. But perhaps the most impressive aspects of Lydia’s pursuit of film as an academic specialization, vocation, and calling are her vision, ambition, and leadership.
Dr. Willie Tolliver, Professor of English, Director of Africana Studies and Director of Film Studies at Agnes Scott College, said that “this is the first time an Agnes Scott film student has received this recognition, and this honor places Lydia in the company of the other graduates of the Agnes Scott Film and Media Studies program who have gone on to graduate schools such as University of Southern California and Chapman University and onward to professional positions at the Atlanta Film Festival, Brad Pitt's Plan B production company, and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.”

It is no secret that Georgia is largely contributing to shaping the future of the entertainment industry. For students like Lydia Holland, this is their time to blaze a unique trail and create the career of their dreams. Lydia even designed her own major to solidify her path and affirms that “to have a career in film, be it directing, editing, or even acting, I need to know what a good film looks like while also being ... [able] to make one.”

“For this reason, I am proposing a major that combines both aspects in-depth,” Lydia concludes. 

Staff members Demetrice Williams and Rita James from Agnes Scott’s Special Events department will attend this year’s award ceremony to support Lydia and represent the college. The program will focus on how the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act impacts the state’s creative economy, how to build or grow your business around the industry and we will take a closer look at the business behind unscripted television. 

Learn more about Agnes Scott College by visiting agnesscott.edu and stay connected to more exciting news and student achievements by joining us on all the social media platforms.