“I almost didn’t go back to college because I thought it was too late and I was too old. I feel like I’ve had a lot of stumbling blocks, but here I am and I feel like I’ve pursued my dream […] and I’m so grateful for this scholarship that will help me to continue to pursue that dream.”
Naomi Gertz, a film and video studies student at George Mason University’s Honors College, received the Katharine Z. Creane Scholarship at the Spring Research Exhibition and Awards Ceremony on May 1, 2026.
The Katharine Z. Creane Scholarship Endowment supports undergraduate transfer students in the Honors College whose education has been interrupted by financial difficulties or other challenges and who are now returning to their studies.
Gertz graduated from high school in spring 2020 and, like many students, the pandemic upended her plans for a four-year college. Before starting at George Mason in Fall 2024, she spent two years at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) in the liberal arts program, volunteered for a year overseas, and then a year at home, helping her single mother care for her younger sisters.
At George Mason, Gertz has developed a passion for film production. During her first year, her professor cast her as a producer for a class film. In her words, she “thrived in that role,” and discovered a passion.
She has produced several films since, including The Book of Eve in the fall, a multi-location project about a young woman who finds her faith tested. Through the Film and Video Studies (FAVS) program, she has also worked as an assistant director, a sound recordist, and an editor.
The scholarship, Gertz said, will help her toward her next big step: making her first film as both producer and director. “I would really love to have my own vision,” she said, emphasizing that having this opportunity shape the whole project is “something I really care about.”
The Honors College, says, Gertz has been “a source of community outside my film community.” In her Honors College classes, she has had the opportunity to enrich her educational experience by meeting “other students, who have different perspectives and different experiences.”