Hometown: Philadelphia, Pa.

Major: Illustration

Minor: Education

Extracurriculars: Social Action and Justice Education Fellowship Program (SAJE), member of the Tri-Alpha honor society, and National Leadership Society

What do you like to do in your free time?

I love to write and illustrate children’s books, design posters, cook, and spend time with loved ones.

What is your proudest accomplishment to date?

Being the first person in my family to graduate from college and have a full-ride scholarship.

Favorite Arcadia memory: My favorite memory is attending the black excellence event and building long-lasting relationships with peers and faculty.

Post-grad plans: to become a full-time art teacher and continue to create children’s books that include diversity and inclusion of people with different identities to allow children to see them represented in art, and help spread awareness of these groups and reverse harmful stereotypes about these individuals they may meet in the world someday.

For her Capstone project, Rogers wrote and illustrated a children’s book titled “My Own Way.” Below is her artist statement from the project:

Actions speak louder than words. Creating art is one action that proves that saying is true. Art can be a form of speech that uses creativity to inform others about certain expressions, thoughts, or topics, and I want to use my artwork to speak about the importance of teaching others about diversity and inclusion. My body of work represents people of different identities through illustration and storytelling. My thesis is a children’s book titled “My Own Way,” which focuses on a 10-year-old girl named Brooklyn, who is diagnosed with autism. Readers will see how Brooklyn’s condition does not stop her from functioning and doing everyday things. I created this book to help spread awareness about people with autism by reversing harmful stereotypes and offering children with autism an opportunity to feel seen in storybooks. I want to continue to make children’s books based on different groups of people that display accurate information about these groups to help give children a positive insight into people they could meet in their lives. I believe creating books like this can help prevent the next generation from spreading harmful ideologies and stop them from making the same mistakes as the generations before them.