UNF senior finds purpose combining science and culture

In the heart of southern Bulgaria, amid the ancient stones of Athens, Greece and in the woods of Big Talbot Island near Jacksonville, University of North Florida student Sarah Boyd unearthed more than artifacts. She gained hands-on experience into how the worlds of biology and anthropology intersect. 

Poised to graduate this fall, the 21-year-old senior is double majoring in biology with a concentration in ecology and evolution, and in anthropology. But her journey to this dual passion wasn’t charted overnight, but rather it was uncovered layer by layer, much like the archaeological sites she has helped excavate. 

Raised in Jacksonville, Boyd knew UNF was the right fit for her during a campus visit as a freshman in high school. 

“I knew early on that I wanted to stay close to home, and I felt UNF had the tight-knit community I was looking for,” said Boyd. “It was the only university I applied to. The warmth of the faculty and staff made a difference to me, and I felt like I belonged here.” 

Thanks to her academic rigor and AP coursework in high school, Boyd entered UNF in Fall 2022 as a sophomore and was accepted into the Hicks Honors College where she was awarded the Hicks Honors Gray Scholarship and the UNF Rising Osprey Test Prep scholarship for participating in SAT test prep at UNF. 

Life-changing moment 

Always curious about both natural and social sciences, Boyd started her educational journey at UNF as a declared biology major, never anticipating that she could combine the two. That changed when she enrolled in anthropology courses taught by Dr. Jacqueline Meier, associate professor of anthropology.  

“Taking Principles of Physical Anthropology with Dr. Meier was my first foray into studying both the physical and natural sciences — it was a life-changing moment,” Boyd said, who joined Meier’s zooarchaeology lab as a research assistant in Spring 2024. “I realized you can’t separate biology and culture when studying humans. We’re animals shaped by evolution, but we also have culture and that influences how we think, act and make decisions.”  

The classes sparked something in Boyd, a realization that biology and anthropology weren’t separate silos, but deeply intertwined disciplines. 

Meier said that’s one of the things she noticed about Boyd from the very beginning — her inquisitiveness.  

“I recruited Sarah for my lab after the first few weeks of her taking my Fundamentals of Archaeology class,” said Meier. “Her enthusiasm for solving the great mysteries of the human past really stood out in her class comments.”    

“Sarah’s greatest strength is her scientific curiosity and her skills in formulating good hypotheses to test past human-environmental interactions,” added Meier. “She is an anthropology and biology double major and exemplifies how UNF students can bring together interdisciplinary interests to create an exciting academic path.” 

Cornerstone of an academic identity 

In Meier’s lab, Boyd discovered how evolutionary biology and cultural anthropology could illuminate the human story. She worked on field and lab projects and helped to sort and identify animal remains recovered from archaeological sites around Florida and the Mediterranean.  

Her field studies include lab work on faunal material from the colonial excavation site of Sarabay, a Mocama-speaking Timucua settlement located on Big Talbot Island, and excavating bones, pottery and other archaeological material from removed soil at the Cedar Point North and Mill Coves sites. 

Boyd’s passion led her beyond the classroom and across continents to Bulgaria — her first international dig at Tel Yunasite, a site pivotal to understanding the Early Bronze Age cultural development. She said the trip was funded by the Hicks Honors Fellows Award she received earlier.  

“The trip to Bulgaria was the cornerstone of my academic identity,” said Boyd. “It was transformative. I met other students from across North America and Europe as we worked to clarify chronological timelines of ancient occupation layers.” 

At the encouragement of Meier, Boyd applied for and was accepted to participate in her second international excavation at the Agora in Athens.  

“Out of 180 other applicants, Sarah was admitted to the prestigious Agora volunteer program,” Meier said. “She took the UNF Archaeology Field School course last summer and my Zooarchaeology Methods, which in addition to her extensive lab experience with me, made her an excellent candidate for their program.” 

Threading two majors together 

As a Hicks Honors student, Boyd balances the demands of maintaining an honors-level performance while double majoring, managing a rigorous academic workload alongside her commitment to extracurricular leadership, community service and personal growth.    

Will Pewitt, assistant director of Hicks Honors College, said Boyd could “calibrate” a room, organizing ideas, tests them and predicts where they’ll lead. He said her workload would overwhelm most, yet she navigates it with unwavering focus and intention. 

“Sarah’s workload would flatten most students, but she approaches it with clarity and purpose,” said Pewitt. “Instead of toggling between two majors she really threads them together. What impresses me most is how she sees each field not as a silo, but as a lens. She’s not just doing two majors — she’s doing more with both, connecting systems, structures and ideas with remarkable ease.” 

Pewitt said the Hicks Honors College-funded digs in Bulgaria and Athens are perfect examples of what is expected of an Honors student to achieve — not just because they were ambitious, but because Boyd returned from the trips with sharper questions and a wider frame of reference.  

“She thinks like a scholar who’s preparing to shape the field, not just participate in it,” Pewitt said. “We reserve these awards for a very small group of students who’ve shown exceptional intellectual aptitude and deep character. When you give Sarah an opportunity, she gives something far more valuable back to the community.”  

That same spirit of character and leadership earned Boyd recognition beyond the classroom. 

Pewitt said Boyd was invited as one of five out of more than 1,000 Honors students to serve as an Honors Ambassador, a panelist and spokesperson for Honors to potential Ospreys, upper administration and off campus partners.  

Currently, Boyd is continuing her research in Meier’s lab, working on her undergraduate thesis in anthropology. Meier remains a mentor, guiding her through research methods, thesis questions and graduate school applications, where she hopes to study archaeological science.  

“Dr. Meier has supported and guided me throughout my time at UNF,” Boyd said. “She championed me to get as much field experience as possible, as well as lab work. Without her mentorship, I would have gone a completely different route.”  

Outside of academics, Boyd is a ministry intern with Jacksonville Campus Ministry and serves as a children’s minister at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. She’s also an avid runner, training for her second marathon — a hobby she picked up in 2022 to help relieve stress. Also, she loves musical theatre and was a member of the UNF Swoop Troupe and is involved in community theatre in Jacksonville. 

Her advice to fellow students? “Apply for everything — reach out to your professors, be flexible, open-minded and willing to learn from every project and person around you.”