My name is Sabrina Sheridan and I live in New Jersey in the United States. I just finished my sophomore year at Cornell University where I am double majoring in History and Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies and minoring in Deaf Studies. I grew up in New Jersey with my mother, father, and three sisters, who have all instilled in me the value of female independence and female empowerment. I lived in a small town my whole life where I never fully understood the difficulties facing girls today on a broader scale until I went to college. My college realization of the multitude of challenges and problems being forced onto girls today is what inspired me to study Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies. Because of this, my dream job is to teach others about the importance of women throughout history and today, and encourage others to give women and girls the respect and rights they deserve across the globe.
In my free time, I enjoy doing anything artsy and crafty! I love to paint and draw, and more recently got into crocheting. I love making my own clothes! At Cornell, I am part of the Big Red Marching Band where I enjoy playing my flute, marching, and writing drill for the band’s halftime performances. I am also the Diversity and Inclusion Chair in Alpha Phi Omega, a community service organization, where I love to host diversity-related events and get to teach/learn from others about different identities and cultures. One of my favorite activities is learning American Sign Language and learning about Deaf Culture and Deaf History, which is a very under-studied subject that I love to bring attention to whenever I can!
My interests easily align with museums so it is difficult to pick a favorite museum of mine! However, I will have to go with the American Museum of Natural History. This is the first museum I ever visited, and I was immediately captivated by it. It offers such a vast array of history and makes you feel like you are walking through time. This is the museum that inspired my love for curatorial work and inspired me to want to visit other museums.
I would say that the biggest issue facing girls I know today is body image. With the growing influence of social media on the younger generation of girls, girls are constantly fed media that makes them believe their only value is the way that they look. Girls therefore develop issues of body dysmorphia, mental health issues, and struggles with disordered eating early in life. I believe more than anything that girls are powerful and valuable in every facet of life and in everything that they offer to the world. I believe teaching girls about the multitude of ways in which they are worthy is critical in combating this issue, and one of the best ways of doing that is sharing the often untold stories of girls in history.