Julianna Johnson—The
Art of the Possible
An AARP Foundation Woman’s
Scholarship winner in 2009 and 2010,
Julianna Johnson is in her senior year
at the prestigious School of Design at
the Rochester Institute for Technology
(RIT). She has aced every class since
she enrolled there in September 2009
and recently won the RIT Outstanding
Undergraduate Scholar Award. Her
work is colorful, imaginative and polished –words that describe Julianna, 48,
herself.
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The picture wasn’t always so pretty.
In early 2005, Julianna was living on
the streets of Los Angeles, addicted to
crystal meth. When she was picked up
on drug-related charges and sent to the
L.A. County jail, “that was my bottom,”
she says. “Going to jail was the worst
experience of my life, but it was also
a blessing in disguise—it showed me
what I needed to do.” She got sober in
jail and recently celebrated her sixth
year of sobriety.
Her older sister told her, “This is your
second chance at life. What are your
dreams?” Julianna didn’t hesitate. “I
want to go back to college and study
art,” she said. She moved in with her
sister, enrolled in a community college,
and began to study graphic design. Two
years and straight As later, she had her
associate’s degree.
After reviewing her now-considerable
art portfolio, RIT’s design school offered
her a place in its September 2009 junior
class. She was elated, but there was one
glitch: paying for it. She applied for an
AARP Foundation Women’s Scholarship
and when she learned she’d won, she
was ecstatic—and amazed. “I wasn’t
sure if my story was something that
people would want to support. I’m so
grateful that AARP saw past any social
stigma put on drug addiction, that it
could see that we are still people, we
still have dreams, and we can climb out
of this,” she says.
Reaching out to help other addicted
women recover, Julianna recently won
RIT’s Bruce R. James Distinguished
Public Service Award for her work with
the homeless, addicts and shelters in
the Rochester area.
