Portfolio Practice- Aziz Hamid

I first met Jonikka Shepherd in August 2017, on the first day of English class at The Ohio State University Marion campus. Jonikka is not your typical college student. She is a non-traditional student pursuing a career in early childhood education. Jonikka spends her time going to school, working and doing her internships. Jonikka is an extremely creative woman. I had the honor and pleasure to interview her.

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Jonikka Shepherd
Future childhood education teacher

       Dancing is more than just a hobby for Jonikka. “Dancing is a form of art, a form of free expression.” [Smiles] Jonikka started dancing when she was 7 years old. She does ballet, balloon, and clogging. I asked her what kind of dance is clogging?  She said, “clogging is a type of folk dance where the dancer keeps up with the rhythm of the music by hitting the heel on the dance floor.” Then I said so it’s basically tap dancing. [Laughs]  She said “no.”  She said clogging is more focused on keeping up with the beats rather than the melodies of the song. She goes on saying cloggers wear different shoes than tappers. All I can think in my head was both dances involved dancers hitting their shoes on the floor and making some noise. But I guess that’s why she is the creative dancer and not me.  Then, I decided to ask her why she likes dancing? Jonikka replies, “dancing allows me to be myself.”

       At the age 24, she started spending less time on dancing and started focusing her attention on her school work. She wants to be an early education teacher. She is a visual learner. Creativity runs through her body. She loves to create creative posters and lesson plans for her students. “Creativity comes from the inside of your head and onto the paper.” She visualizes her posters and lesson plans in her mind and brings it to life on paper.  She says creativity comes from inspiration from your parents, nature and whatever grabs your intention.  Jonikka explains that looking at the simplest thing can give you the inspiration to be creative.

       I asked her can you learn to be creative? She says, “you can’t learn to be creative. It just comes to you. Creativity must come within.” ⬛