Ciera Pieters has been working with students at Civic Nebraska’s Campbell Elementary Community Learning Center in Lincoln since February 2018. In that time, the junior University of Nebraska film major has become one of the creative leaders at the CLC, including leading a host of student clubs. We sat down with Ciera recently to learn why she loves what she does.
I’m from Omaha and came down here for college. Khila (Bowling), another staff member at Campbell CLC who I knew from high school, got a job here. She said, “this is great, you should get a job here, too!” It was just perfect and I knew I would love to do this.
My favorite part of working here is getting to see each child grow and knowing that I’m making a difference in their lives. I take a lot of value in being able to mentor and coach younger kids – getting to help them be the best they can be. I love helping them try to find creative things to do to stretch their imagination. Just knowing that I’m getting to impact them in a positive way.
So much is special about Campbell. We are a very fortunate group in the way that our team is very cohesive, our staff works really well together. Our students are wonderful and they’re very adaptable and open to try new things, which I think is really, really, really great especially at their age.
They’re not afraid to step out of their comfort zone. If they have an idea they’re like, “Yo, I wanna do this. I think this would be really fun to try.”
I do a lot of creative clubs. I did create a world club and I did a stop-motion club and I’m doing the yearbook club this year (check out these stop-motion videos from Campbell students Kaleb and Riley!) We do anything from sports club to creative clubs. We have baking clubs, we’re starting a robotics club, and we do some STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) related clubs. Clubs are an overarching bridge of a little bit of everything.
I love getting to work alongside the kids and getting to learn with them. With a lot of our STEAM activities, I don’t know everything about them and so I’m like, “Oh, that’s cool.” Getting to see their brain tick, I think, is always cool. Getting to see their faces light up as they figure out a solution is always a highlight.
I am a film major. My dream job right now is to become a film editor and then later I want to go into teaching film. That would be really, really fun. I took a media production class in high school, and that’s my goal after I become an established filmmaker.
More Building Young Leaders profiles:
Marjan Vasaji Campbell| Dewenica Sallis Sherman| Esther Jones Lothrop| Liseth Reyna Lewis & Clark| Victor Ortiz-Morales Campbell| Toni Kuhn Sherman| Liz Hunt Circles club| Trishonna Helm Street Team club| LaMia Byrd Lewis & Clark | Candy Allen Lothrop| Brianna White Sherman
