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What do you do with a decommissioned Cold War Grumman submarine bomber? If you’re sculptor Jordan Griska, you turn it into a piece of art.  A graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with a certificate in sculpture and the University of Pennsylvania’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program, graduating magna cum laude in 2009, Griska says that his recent work centers on natural disasters and survivalism.

"When I first came to Penn as a Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts student, I was intimidated. This was an Ivy League school, and as an artist I was not certain how I would fit in. My fears were unfounded. I quickly adapted to the environment. I identified my interests in Penn’s many libraries and museums. I became fascinated by folklore; I took comparative literature and women’s studies courses; I studied French; and then I found myself writing short stories.

In May of 2002, I completed an undergraduate degree in business administration from a small suburban liberal arts college. This was a major accomplishment for me since I was 47, and I had worked many years to complete my degree while holding a full-time job and raising a family. I believed job advancement opportunities would begin to drop into my lap, but as the months passed, I realized that not only would I need an advanced degree to get ahead, I’d need more experience and a broader perspective to be considered seriously for a move into a higher-level position.