Kiarra Louis contributes to The Patterson Foundation’s Digital Access for All (DA4A) initiative. Her initial interest stems from her own understandings of digital access as a student. Her academic success has been supported by having access to various technology such as a home computer, a personal laptop, and stable internet connection. Given her personal reliance on technology in academic settings, she understands the importance of creating opportunities for students to acquire digital access and develop skills to use it effectively. She plans to use her previous experience as a teen health educator and her current involvement as an intern at the Florida Department of HealthManatee County to impact the development of the initiative.
In the fall of 2018, Kiarra began attending the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus, and she is majoring in Professional and Technical Communication (PTC). The PTC major encompasses two of her passions: educating others and writing professionally and creatively.
Within her major, she has taken coursework providing her with advantageous skills to the initiative, including technical, professional, and creative writing. These courses have shaped her as an individual capable of communicating technical information using visual and written communication, creating specialized documents, and thinking critically. Her coursework is supplemented by her writing hobby, which led to publication opportunities in Defiant Scribe, an online literary magazine, and 805 Lit + Art, a local literary magazine.