Sheryl Mebane

Sheryl Mebane is pursuing her doctorate in chemistry. In her spare time, she’s researching inequities in high school science education.

Evenings and weekends, she drums in a San Francisco jazz trio.

And this summer? Mebane published her first novel.

While always an active student, Mebane also credits this hectic but fulfilling lifestyle to The Morehead, which encouraged her to take risks and try a little bit of everything.

“I know I wouldn’t have gone in the directions I have without The Morehead,” Mebane says. “I was able to be (at Carolina) as an undergrad, and not worry about finances. Without The Morehead, I wouldn’t have gone through this creative path as quickly.”

The Morehead also helped direct her moral compass. Mebane found inspiration in her fellow black female Moreheads who “could do amazing things,” and other Moreheads who performed humanitarian work while maintaining impressive GPAs.

Mebane was so moved by the conditions she found during her Morehead summer internship studying drumming in West Africa, it changed her perspective on career.

“It really prevented me from going in a more materialistic direction,” she said. “I didn’t want to be in a rat race.”

Today, Mebane’s academic schedule at the University of California at Berkeley, gigs with the trio Tangria and demands in marketing her new book Lady Bird keep the 27-year old plenty busy. But as the Morehead taught her, she can handle it.

“I’m always searching for the challenging, and I always get it.”