Sierra “Star” Burton
Be yourself unconditionally and the right people will gravitate toward and love you.
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What three words would you use to describe L&C?
What made you want to come to Lewis & Clark?
The landscape and nature were my immediate draw to the college. This place is definitely for nature lovers and people that like to wander in the woods. Otherwise, I chose to attend due to having friends that were already enrolled at L&C and loving it and that my tuition was 95% covered by scholarships.
What have you been doing since graduation?
Summer of 2023 right after college I worked at my childhood circus arts and performing camp, Camp Winnarainbow, teaching aerial silks and trapeze. That summer we formed a union after 48 years of the camp’s operation, and I was elected copresident with a Reed alum who also grew up attending our camp. Later that same year I worked part-time at Zaccho Aerial Dance Theater in San Francisco and part-time at Pathfinders Nature School in Palo Alto. I have always loved working with little kids and making art with them. I even was a nanny for two L&C professors while in undergrad. Last summer I was selected to move to Los Angeles and participate in a 9-month art handling apprenticeship at The Broad Museum of Contemporary Art. I went on to work as a digital archivist, processing and scanning archival materials for an artist named Betye Saar, and am now the administrative and editorial assistant at Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles Magazine!
How did Lewis & Clark prepare you for job?
Like most post-grad lives, piecing together your career path can be quite a rollercoaster. My own journey has truly been unconventional as I now work in an industry much different than what I studied. If anything, the political science department helped shape my writer’s voice and professional writing skills. I also give major credit to the electoral and legislative fellowship I participated in my junior year with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, which shifted the way I viewed myself as a community leader with ideas worth sharing. However, my most influential moments in undergrad came while studying abroad my final semester at L&C. I met some of the coolest people on my trip who I had not personally known before at Lewis & Clark, and I also made some unforgettable memories.
What would you say is the most important thing you learned at Lewis & Clark?
Be yourself unconditionally and the right people will gravitate toward and love you.
How do you stay connected to Lewis & Clark as an alum?
It is very challenging. I attended L&C at the beginning and continued through the height of the pandemic, so I did not know too many folks during my time there. Every now and again I keep up with people online, but I typically see most of my old L&C community when I visit home in the Bay Area.
