Karlie Rainer
Written by Karlie Rainer.
Hello! My name is Karlie Rainer and I am very excited to have the opportunity to work with Marietta Main Street this summer. I was placed here through the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation’s Civic Leaders Program. This program is designed for college students who are leaders within their communities/colleges.
Currently, I am a student at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. There, I major in Architecture and have completed my minor in City and Regional Planning. I take part in the Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and City Planning Scholars program in which we hold events and participate in service projects. I am also a member of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). I will be entering my second year in the program this upcoming August.
I was raised in Marietta and graduated from Marietta High School in 2020. I never thought that I would be interested in architecture or city planning, but after taking engineering and architecture classes in high school, I realized that there is a great opportunity to impact future housing and the way that cities change in the coming years through design. The creative opportunities that I was allowed ultimately led me to choose to study architecture. Sustainable and affordable housing is one area that I aim to work on upon receiving my degree. Preserving history in different communities is another of my focuses, which is why I am very enthusiastic to be working with Marietta Main Street this summer.
During the past 6 weeks, I have been focusing the majority of my time on putting together a Historic Preservation Guide with information related to preserving our downtown historic buildings. Other than the guide, I have been working on gathering data for an Opportunity Zone Prospectus for downtown. This data gives statistics about the community and projects within the Opportunity Zone that will invest into the Opportunity Zone initiative. The majority of the projects are also included in Enrich Marietta, the most recent comprehensive plan put together for the City of Marietta. I am also working with the Enrich Marietta plan this summer to track what has been accomplished already in the community, such as Bike Marietta and the promotion of public art through the installation of murals by local artists.
