Sheridan grew up on an acreage outside of Lincoln, NE and her family’s ranch is located in theNorthern Panhandle of Nebraska. She was actively involved in 4-H and raised and showed pigs and goats and enjoyed helping her grandfather with his cow-calf operation. This instilled a passion for the agriculture industry in her, and, because of that, Sheridan graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a Bachelor’s in Agricultural Education-teaching and a minor in AnimalScience to pass on her knowledge and passion for the agriculture industry to high school youth. Sheridan started her career in the fall of 2020 at KearneyHigh School where she teaches Introduction to AFNR, Animal Science,Agribusiness, Large Animal Management, and Floriculture. In addition, Sheridan is also one of two advisors for the Kearney FFA Chapter. Sheridan sees the value of educating students on practices that encourage healthy grasslands as this promotes proper grazing to raise the beef that Nebraska proudly raises to feed the world.
When I started teaching,I created a Rangeland Friday curriculum for my Animal Science classes that mimics the Nebraska Range Judging Contest. Topics include range plant identification, evaluating ecological sites, and solving ranch map and stocking rate problems. My project for the Prairie Project is fine-tuning this curriculum and adding topics such as prescribed fire, multi-species grazing, patch-burn grazing, and grassland restoration in the Great Plains. I am also having students conduct interviews with people from different age groups(14-18, 19-40, 41+) to collect data on their knowledge and perceptions of these practices. At the end of the interview, students will have a conversation with their interviewee about what they have learned in class through RangelandFriday in order to educate the public on these topics. Information will be collected and shared.
