College Internship

Leianna King is a senior at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with an emphasis in illustration. After graduation, she aims to become a children’s book illustrator, specifically focusing on non-fiction books and other educational materials. Her internship at the THEA Foundation will involve creating nine lesson plans that combine STEM subject matter with artistic pursuits as a part of THEA’s Art Closet Program, which helps educators secure funding for art supplies and projects.

From Leianna

This internship will seed the expansion of THEA’s Art Closet, one of the foundation’s longest running programs. These cross-curricular lesson plans would add more detail and substance to THEA’s Art Closet, as it provides educators with guiding material to incorporate the arts in STEM disciplines as well as a starting point for applying for Art Closet grants. With the lesson plans, arts programming can be spread into math or science classrooms, increasing the reach of the arts in public schools. More students can be exposed to the arts, without necessarily needing to deliberately take an art class. Overall, the lessons generated from this internship directly support THEA Foundation’s mission, as more students can be positively impacted by the arts, and gain a passion that they might not have known they had.