Cierra Bland

Cierra is passionate about the arts and social issues within the African-American community. Cierra helped initiate a project in her former inner-city neighborhood to observe if a change in physical environment can provoke positive social change. She also volunteers as a tutor at her former elementary school. Cierra volunteers at the Library of Virginia in the early childhood literacy department where she operates under the alias "Rocket", the mascot for childhood literacy in the state of Virginia . She has also worked as a VCUArts Camp counselor and has had artwork chosen to be in area literary journals and well as local art shows. Her goals for the year are to develop fluency in Spanish, to learn how to tell a good story, and to learn how to explore.