Shamayam Johnson, 17, is the Engagement Senator with Student Government, a running start student, and is majoring in digital design. Greater than her job title at her young age are her aspirations to use her design skill to promote God and family.

“I hope to communicate digitally to people the word of God,” Johnson said as she explained her future plans. Her family works as a team to “spread the knowledge of God”, and Johnson felt that going into digital design would be the best way to contribute. She stated that the goal is to keep the work in the family. If members in the family learn a skill, then they will not have to spend money to hire out when there is a task to be done.

“We are hoping to get people who are in need, like in Jesus Christ’s name [as in] the bible, He was always with the poor and with the ill. [We are] hoping to really target those areas,” says Johnson. She hopes to travel around the U.S. doing spiritual work

Johnson is very close with her family. When she was younger, she and her family were growing up in Detroit, MI during economic downfall. She recalls the time when many people were getting laid-off and her family struggled to afford food.

“We at least needed to eat, and so my dad came up with this short business idea where we sold [body oils] to people in parks,” explained Johnson. “It was great, I got to experience being a young entrepreneur and it was hard work. But, I enjoyed it because the money we collected went directly into feeding us.”

Her entrepreneurial skills may only be matched by her leadership skills. As engagement senator, Johnson helps facilitate the Emerging Leaders Academy (ELA), a leadership training program open to students. The program develops leadership skills while connecting students with the faculty, other students, and the community. With the completion of the workshops, students receive the Emerging Leaders certificate.

“I want [the students] to be able to see that they can be a leader,” Johnson said. “Leadership can be [an] intimidating word because when we think of being a leader we think of Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, all of those kind of people that make social change… Leadership can be small and it can be really big and I don’t want [students] to be intimidated by [leadership].”

Johnson explained that she wants to see students in the ELA program thrive. She hopes student will get excited and say “I can be a leader. I am a leader”.

For more information on the ELA program, visit the Emerging Leaders Academy homepage on the Pierce website.