Sarah Wraight (Class of 2013)

Sarah Wraight is a first-generation student and graduate who earned her BA in anthropology (2013) and MA in sociology (2019) from the University of South Alabama. During her undergraduate studies, she was drawn to anthropology's holistic approach to understanding humanity. Her interests grew through hands-on experiences and archaeological fieldwork conducted as close to home as downtown Mobile and as far-reaching as Hualcayán in the Peruvian Andes. Through South’s program, she was given opportunities to conduct all phases of archaeological testing, as well as GIS surveying, lab work, analysis, and interpretation.

Sarah is grateful to her mentors at South, who encouraged her to reach for more and were prepared to match her with excellent opportunities for career development post-graduation. Today, Sarah works as a GIS Analyst for the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission in its Community Planning and Economic Development Department. The skills she once used to map patterns of the past now inform her analysis of modern life and future possibilities.

As a lifelong learner, Sarah is pursuing her PhD in Environment and Society (Social Ecology) at South, focusing on creative place-making and outdoor education on college campuses. Since 2020, she has taught sociology part-time at USA, reimagining ways to inspire the same systems thinking and holistic perspectives in her students that her instructors inspired in her.