Plain Roots Conference: Naomi Peachey Clark and Sharon Beachy

Today we return to coverage of the Plain Roots: Community, Story, and Support for Higher Education conference that was held in late June. We are bringing you the first two presentations of Saturday, the full day of the conference.

Naomi Peachey Clark and Sharon Beachy shared a 45-minute slot, followed by questions from the audience. I wrote a blog post on my personal blog in 2024 about Naomi here and here. And we published part of Sharon’s story here on the ADSF blog here and here. Let me introduce the two of them, along with their synopses.

Naomi Peachy Clark, PhD took an unlikely road to academia–from a Beachy Amish Mennonite upbringing in Central Pennsylvania to a doctorate in English from the University of Missouri. She now serves as an Associate Professor at Loras College in eastern Iowa, where she teaches writing courses and directs the Writing Center. She loves helping first-generation and nontraditional students find their footing in higher education, and in her spare time enjoys podcasting, hiking, and pondering life’s big questions with her two teens.

Beyond “A Good Cook”: Naming the Unseen Forces That Defined Our Horizons 

For many first-generation students, the barrier to college isn’t intelligence; it’s whether anyone around you expected you to get there, and whether the right infrastructure was in place to help you do it. Drawing on Deborah Brandt’s concept of “sponsors of literacy,” this talk traces one Plain woman’s unlikely academic journey through a framework of concentric circles — from family and church school to state lawmakers and the U.S. Supreme Court — exploring how the institutions in our lives quietly shape what we believe is possible. Naming those forces is often the first step toward discovering how much more is within reach than we were ever led to believe.

Sharon’s graduation from SCF

Sharon Beachy left her Amish community in Ohio at 18. She established a cleaning business while working several full-time jobs. To pursue her calling of becoming a doctor, Sharon moved to Florida at 19, where she earned her GED and began her collegiate journey. At State College of Florida, Sharon received the Outstanding Student Award in both General and Organic Chemistry, was honored as an Outstanding Graduate, and graduated Summa cum laude with her A.A. degree. She is a pre-med student currently pursuing her Bachelor of Science in biomedical sciences at University of South Florida. Sharon is passionate about leadership, community service, and global outreach. She believes that adversities are one’s greatest advantage.

Activation Energy: Crossing the Threshold to Excellence

In organic chemistry, a reaction cannot progress until it overcomes the activation energy—the barrier between one state and the next. Sharon uses this idea to reflect on her own journey from an eighth-grade Amish education to a pre-med track at USF. Through the lens of chemistry, she explores how periods of instability, pressure, and change can become turning points for excellence rather than permanent roadblocks. This presentation offers a powerful perspective on perseverance, education, and the courage it takes to move beyond educational limits and inherited expectations.

Here is the link to the YouTube video of their presentations.

Please let us know if you have questions in the comment section below. Naomi and Sharon may be able to respond to you, though Sharon is neck-deep in her studies right now, so know it isn’t personal if you don’t receive a response from her.