Class of 2018: Sarah Coffey

As a student at Stetson, among Sarah Coffey’s goals was to “impact as many people as possible and get them to think about how they can make a difference.”

It didn’t take long for Sarah Coffey to fall in love with Stetson. After beginning to think about Stetson during her junior year at Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School in Sarasota, Florida, Coffey took a tour of the university.

“I had the best impression right away,” she remembered.

An excellent student, Coffey clearly had other college choices. But they didn’t measure up, because “none of them felt like Stetson to me.”

Stetson, in turn, soon fell in love with her.

Coffey became the university’s first Environmental Values Fellow as a first-year student, a 2016 Udall Scholar for her environmental initiatives and engagement with the Stetson community, and a 2017 Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellow by virtue of her social-justice activism. For good measure, Coffey also tallied all straight A’s in the classroom as an environmental science and geography major.

Ultimately, for the totality of accomplishments and impacts, at Stetson’s 2018 Undergraduate Awards and Recognition Ceremony on May 11, Coffey was presented the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, jointly conferred by Stetson and the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation to two members of the graduating class, male and female. (Adam Cooper, a chemistry major, was the male recipient.) The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award was created nearly 100 years ago to recognize “nobility of character” and service to others.

At Stetson, Coffey exemplified such qualities, to say the least, according to Wendy Anderson, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Environmental Science and Studies Department.

“Oh, where to begin with Sarah?” Anderson gushed. “My experience mentoring Sarah and watching her blossom is almost too sacred to be distilled to a few soundbites.

“She is a superstar student, of course. But, I would add this: Sarah has a heart of gold and a compassionate and humble spirit. She is genuinely thoughtful and caring to both those she loves and those whom she feels called to serve. Motivated by an overwhelming empathy for all people and creatures — the very living earth itself — Sarah wakes each day striving to make a difference in every moment of the day.”

Coffey, pictured as a junior, stands in the Hatter Harvest organic garden behind the Gillespie Museum.

That impact came largely as an Environmental Fellow. In collaboration with the Environmental Science and Studies Department and Stetson’s Center for Community Engagement, she worked to “impact as many people as possible and get them to think about how they can make a difference,” Coffey described.

Two examples: As a student, Coffey was especially passionate about engaging children in gardening and in teaching the importance of growing their own food. She headed the campus garden club, Hatter Harvest, and volunteered with Boys & Girls Clubs. Also, she strived to halt the abuse of migrant labor in Florida’s agricultural industry, working with local members of the Farmworker Association of Florida, a group dedicated to equity and justice. That devotion prompted her to learn Spanish.

The Udall scholarship provided the chance to explore fields related to health care and tribal public policy for American Indians and Alaska Natives. The Newman Civic Fellows Award, another national distinction, honored Coffey as a member of the “next generation of public problem solvers and civic leaders.”

Most recently, in April just before graduation, Coffey was part of 2018 Posters on the Hill in Washington, D.C. Each year, 60 top student research projects are selected from hundreds of applications, with students and their faculty mentors presenting research on Capitol Hill. Coffey’s research centered on the fire history of the San Juan Islands Washington.

“I grew up with a personal relationship with the natural world and have always recognized this as an integral part of what it means to be human,” explained Coffey, who has lived in New Mexico, Oregon, Maryland, Connecticut, Virginia and Florida. “It is distressing to see how many of us have lost this connection.”

Undaunted, Coffey intends to forge ahead. Her next stop is the Forestry and Environmental Conservation Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), where she will continue her education with an emphasis on community food forests. Not surprisingly, she has a paid assistantship waiting for her, and research already is planned for this summer.

“I guess what I want to do is just change people’s way of thinking [about the environment],” Coffey said. “And I want to try to inspire people to be compassionate.”

-Michael Candelaria