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Senior Clare Sheedy Emphasizes Importance of Mentorship During Speech at Higher Education for All Press Briefing
Thursday, December 22, 2022
Thursday, December 22, 2022
Clare Sheedy, a senior double majoring in Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies and public health and a Master of Public Health candidate, recently delivered a speech at a Higher Education for All press briefing held at the Massachusetts State House. Sheedy spoke on the importance of mentors and advisors in student success.
“In 2020, when the world shifted following the COVID-19 pandemic, I felt closer than ever to my former advisor, Karen Lederle,” Sheedy says in the speech. “Having her as an advisor was life-changing for me. Not only did she support me on an academic level, but she was a mentor for me during some of the hardest years of my life.”
Sheedy, who is also the SGA speaker, and working on completing a Five College Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Certificate, shared how she began her academic career at UMass Amherst in 2019. Soon after, Sheedy was sexually assaulted, fighting a “silent battle” for months, she says, before diving headfirst into her academics.
That’s what led her to Lederle, her then-academic advisor. In Lederle’s office, the two had a pivotal conversation that led to “fruitful growth and change” in both Sheedy’s academic pursuits and her personal life, she says.
Sheedy went on to get involved on campus, sitting on numerous committees and councils and working on policy.
In April 2022, she delivered a TED Talk about sexual violence—an experience she says would not have been possible without her studies, and that connection she forged with Lederle.
“The experiences, opportunities, and mentorship that I’ve had at UMass made me realize the true disservice being done by all universities [that] neglect to provide students with full-time academic advisors,” Sheedy says. “It’s crucial that students see themselves in their professors, their advisors, and all staff at universities in Massachusetts and elsewhere.”
Sheedy also underscored the importance of creating a safe, inclusive, and equitable community where marginalized students, staff, and faculty can thrive.
“Let’s all be radically vulnerable today,” Sheedy says, “And commit to a future where barriers are lifted, so all students can truly be revolutionary.”
