Jordan Sims
Jordan Sims, a television and film arts (TFA) major and fledgling filmmaker, started making films when he was just 9 years old and living in England. By the time he was a sophomore at City Honors School in Buffalo, he knew he wanted to study filmmaking in college. But he also knew he would need to finance a college education on his own. So Sims was excited and honored to receive the Stefano Moran-Guiati Scholarship.
“It is something special when someone you do not know as well as family or a close friend believes in you and wishes to help you out,” Sims said.
Funded through private contributions, including gifts made through the annual Faculty and Staff Appeal, the Stefano Moran-Guiati Scholarship Fund provides a $500 scholarship annually to an incoming freshman who has graduated from Buffalo City Honors High School, Stefano’s alma mater.
Because of his excellent grades and extracurricular activities, Sims has also received a Presidential Scholarship, the Muriel A. Howard Honors Program Scholarship, and the Ross B. Kenzie Family Presidential Scholarship.
“These scholarships have meant that I haven’t needed to take out any loans to pay for school,” Sims said. “I would like to work in Hollywood as a filmmaker someday, and I know you don’t make a lot of money unless you sell a blockbuster. So graduating from college without debt is a blessing.”
Stefano Moran-Guiati, the son of Andrea Guiati, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of modern and classical languages and director of the Muriel A. Howard Honors Program, was a lecturer at Buffalo State when he died tragically in an automobile accident in March 2007. Guiati and his family turned their loss into a lifeline to future Buffalo State students through the establishment of the Stefano Moran-Guiati Scholarship.
Guiati said he is pleased to see his elder son’s dedication to his students continued through the scholarships. And they provide Guiati with the opportunity to meet the recipients.
“They write letters; they stop to thank me in person,” he said. “These are good kids. When I see students get the scholarships, I feel like I see my son coming back.”
