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Keona Blanks was an editorial page intern for Civil Beat. She is a rising junior studying Earth Systems at Stanford University. Within her interdisciplinary environmental science degree, she focuses on science communication to bridge her passion for reporting and her eclectic interests in sustainability, disease ecology and traditional ecological knowledge.

At Stanford, Keona writes for Stanford Rewired and The Stanford Daily. She also contributes to research on infant health through the Stanford King Center on Global Development and engages in leadership roles at Stanford’s Haas Center for Public Service. 

Though she grew up on Oahu, half of Keona’s heart is in Japan where she was born and where her extended family lives. She spends her summers in Hawaii striving to engage her community in building a sustainable future through various internships, such as with the Institute for Climate and Peace, the William S. Richardson Environmental Law Program, and now Civil Beat. When she’s not learning Jack Johnson songs on the guitar, she’s looking for a new book to start but never finish.