Kin Blandford
May 10, 2021
If you take a trip down to 37 West and 100 South on the side of the Dinwoody building you’ll see Kin Blandford’s work. This mural featuring the likenesses of 250 Utah Women is one of the latest creative ventures that Kin Blandford has had the opportunity to work on, and it’s exactly what makes him the 2020 Highland High School Sterling Scholar for Skilled and Technical Sciences.
This project of course is a very important one, it stands to “assemble a colorful cast of more than 250 figures from across the Beehive State”, and it is with great gratitude Kin accepted the chance to contribute.
From the days of elementary and middle school when children are taught to hone and show their creative talents Kin’s talent and passion for art flourished. In 7th grade he began uploading projects to vimeo. Subsidizing his own talents with teaching he took classes in his middle school years to develop his skill and through self-teaching with aid from a few classes at Highland he became a skilled editor and graphic designer.
The University of Utah will soon be the home of Kin’s creative aspirations. He’s interested in becoming a mechanical engineer, the Sterling Scholarship being instrumental in helping him achieve this dream.
Kin “has always been inquisitive!” according to his mother Liberty, and there’s no doubting he’s always been driven as well. Asking questions and staying active were important then and the time he spent making things and exploring museums has seemingly carried on into his skillful practice of technical sciences.
Kin recognizes his own addiction prone personality, but transforms this into effectiveness in his field of choice. You’ll never meet a more interested student who can ask questions that even challenge his teachers.
His mother notes Kin’s unique habit for falling into deep interest with whatever he is interested in at the moment. He has taught himself how to do all kinds of things, “he grew up in an environment of making and doing” and at Highland has developed a talent for welding.
The future for Kin involves great plans, he’s already begun working on projects which he plans will be lifelong endeavors. He describes his “own design of a wave absorber,” a method whereby electricity can be generated cleanly, which he plans to make functional to move the World in a more self-sustaining direction.
With a world in need of new solutions and new blood to bring them about, Kin stands out as especially driven. With a passion for everything he does his close friends, teachers, mother, and entire world can eagerly await his next passion project.