Sarah Hyde
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Anthropology and Human Development double major, Dance minor
Center/Pathway affiliation: Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy Scholar
Campus Involvement: Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology; Community Partnerships, Dance Club, Eclipse
Favorite classroom experience at Conn: In Professor Joyce Bennett's Anthropology 431 seminar, which focused on transborderism and globalization, one of our culminating assignments was to interview local community members who were comfortable sharing their stories and experiences about migrating to the United States. After a semester of reading intense ethnographic works about the barriers that immigrants face, conducting interviews humanized these issues and highlighted the need to focus on people's resiliency instead of just their hardships. This realization has changed the way I think about all my research. I now actively try to humanize issues and avoid being too deficit-based.
Best takeaway from my internship: For my junior year internship, I worked with a child rights policy and advocacy nonprofit called New Mexico Voices for Children in my hometown, Albuquerque. My best takeaway from this experience is that all oppressions are connected, which is why it is vital for community-based organizations to do intersectional work and engage in coalition-building.
Post-graduation plans: I am going to work for New Mexico Voices for Children over the summer again, and then will be attending the University of New Mexico School of Law beginning in Fall 2018. I have been awarded a scholarship funded through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to participate in a program throughout my three years in law school called Child and Family Justice Advocates, which is focused on public interest law and New Mexico's vulnerable children and families.