Karena Halvorssen grew up in sunny Miami, Florida, with roots in Norway and Venezuela. She graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs, where focused her studies around cultural anthropology and digital media. During her sophomore year, she had the opportunity to attend a field school on Mozambique Island with the Slave Wrecks Project, where she studied methods and best practices of cultural heritage preservation and archeology. After graduating in 2019, Karena accepted an apprenticeship with the Studio Theatre, where she gained first-hand experience in facilitating space use for artists, donors, and community partners. Karena has over five years of experience in event planning and digital content creation for non-profits. In recent months, she interviewed climate organizers from all over the county for a campaign to mobilize Latinx voters around issues of climate change and ecology. She has a big interest in how public parks and cultural hubs shape our civic identity and cultural histories. Karena is incredibly excited to be working as a Communication Fellow for the US Forest Service's Heritage Program. On her days off, she manages the farmer's market division of Call Your Mother Deli in DC.