Kierra Johnson, 2015 SCIP Intern

A Philadelphia native. I have lived an art filled life in Philadelphia for most of my life pursuing proficiency in all of my creative ventures. For as long as I can remember my interests in the arts and in nature have been strong so after I graduated high school in the summer of 2014, getting the chance to spend 35 days on an SCA (Student Conservation Association) trail crew in GRTE(Grand Teton) and getting into my first choice college, Uarts(University of the Arts) was a very fortunate time in my life.  I realized that Uarts was not a school I felt I had a connection with and decided to transfer to Hussian School of Art and plan to major in visual communications.

Growing up being an inner city kid, art is what kept me on the right track since I felt I didn’t have much access to nature, but my environment has always fueled my illustrations which center around topics of race, body image, class and feminism. During my time in GRTE, I experienced a completely new environment that I had never experienced before SCA and since then have wanted to be more involved in the National Park Service and assisting with the conservation of land and history.

Being an artist and growing up in lower class home with a single parent I have learned to use the resources I have to create bigger and better things and so I do not feel the need to separate my passion for art and my passion for conservation. Rather, I wish to integrate the two things if there is any way possible as I feel it is a necessity to preserve the arts, history and nature for future generations to come because all three of these things have played a huge roll in forming the person I am today and have done the same for many others.

-Kierra Johnson